Fly-tipper is only told to pay £62 (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Denis Prince, 52, dumped rubbish at Morrisons in Basingstoke

1:30pm Sunday 10th March 2013 in News By Gazette reporter

THIS man thought he could get away with fly-tipping tyres and a load of rubbish at a Basingstoke supermarket’s recycling point.

But Denis Prince was spotted at Morrisons recycling point by a sharp-eyed resident who reported his van.

Prince, 52, ended up in Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court, where he admitted fly-tipping waste including a cabinet, a holdall full of dvds, white plastic tubing, a car seat and old clothes.

Melanie O’Sullivan, prosecuting for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, said Prince was reported on August 21 last year by the resident who found the waste and had seen Prince’s Citroen Berlingo van.

Miss O’Sullivan said not every item, such as fencing panels, found at the site had been dumped by him, but Prince, of Barry Way, Brighton Hill, Basingstoke, admitted fly-tipping much of it and apologised. The rubbish included four quilts, a couple of tyres and bin bags of clothing.

Miss O’Sullivan said there was no excuse for fly-tipping as the recycling point had some very clear signs.

She said there had been hundreds of incidents of fly-tipping in the borough last year, which had cost a six figure sum to clean up. She added: “Clearly, it is a very big issue for the council.”

Peter Little, defending, said there were already plenty of items dumped at the recycling point when Prince arrived.

He told the court: “He thought it was all right for them to be there, as some could be re-used and recycled.”

Mr Little added that Prince was of previous good character and limited means, and had been signed off work for the last 19 years with depression and anxiety. He said his client had just been trying to do a favour for a friend by disposing of the waste.

Prince, who admitted the charge of depositing controlled waste without a permit, was ordered by the magistrates to pay a total £62 in costs and compensation.

Presiding magistrate Bobbi Evans told Prince he should have taken his waste to the local authority waste disposal facility, at Wade Road, in Basingstoke. She said: “You won’t be fly-tipping again, I hope.”