Bristol man fined nearly £2,000 over fly-tipping
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![Waste dumped on country lane, including big beer fridges and generic rubbish](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/105DC/production/_132963076_fridge.jpg)
The fly-tip discovered in 2022 included commercial fridges and building waste
A man has been ordered to pay nearly £2,000 in fines and costs following a fly-tipping incident.
Paperwork bearing Jae Grier's home address and that of his shop were found among rubbish dumped in Wick, South Gloucestershire, in July 2022.
The 24-year-old told police he had paid £350 to have the waste removed during a store refurbishment by "cold callers".
South Gloucestershire Council said it has a "zero-tolerance approach" to fly-tipping.
Grier, of Snowberry Walk in St George, Bristol was prosecuted by the council for waste offences.
A council statement said he failed to appear at Bristol Magistrates Court when summonsed in May 2023 but handed himself into the courts on Monday after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was found guilty of waste duty of care offences and handed a £461 fine, ordered to pay £891 in costs and £600 in compensation, a total of £1,952.
The court heard that on 27 July 2022, the council received a report of a fly-tip at Rock Road, Wick, containing commercial fridges and building waste.
Photographs of the fly-tip and paperwork relating to Grier and Speedwell Convenience Store, which he owns, were taken and shown to him outside his home address the following month.
![The entrance to Rock Road in Wick showing hedges either side of a single-track road](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/66D6/production/_132962362_screenshot-www.google.com-2024.03.19-12_26_27.png)
The rubbish was found dumped on Rock Road in Wick
He said he had paid to have the waste removed during a store refurbishment.
Council environmental officers told Grier he had a duty of care as business owner to know who had removed the waste.
Grier said it had been a casual arrangement, but he had a receipt. However, when interviewed under caution in January 2023 at the council's offices in Kingswood, he produced a receipt "in a torn and crumpled state with little detail on it", the council said.
Robert Evely, environmental enforcement team leader at South Gloucestershire Council, said: "If you employ a third party to take away your waste, always ensure you ask for a copy of the company's waste carrier registration certificate and ask where it is being taken, or you could be found liable and face prosecution."
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