Takeaway boss guilty of fly-tipping

Two men who pleaded guilty to fly-tipping in rural South Derbyshire beauty spots have been handed suspended jail sentences and each ordered to pay £3,084 costs.

They have also been ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work which will include litter-picking.

Waheed Hussain, 46, of Portland Street, Normanton, Derby and who owns Sarry’s takeaway in Cheapside, Derby, and Wahid Hamid, 39, of Fairfax Street, Derby, both appeared before magistrates at Southern Derbyshire Magistrate’s Court charged with 13 counts of fly-tipping.

The court heard that Hussain had cancelled the waste collection contract he had with Derby City Council in September 2017 and instead paid Hamid between £75 and £100 per week to collect and dump the bin liners full of waste.

Over the course of eight months, 139 bags were recovered by South Derbyshire District Council, although investigators say they estimate the number would actually be about 360.

Ardip Kaur, the Council’s Legal & Democratic Services Manager, said the Council was made aware of the bags being dumped on land off Bakeacre Lane, Findern, on September 18, by a dog walker.

Between that date and May 2018, scores of bags were found by the Council’s Environmental Health team in Bakeacre Lane, Staker Lane, Arleston Lane and Burton Road, Findern.

Both men pleaded guilty to 13 counts of depositing controlled waste without an environmental permit.

Sentencing the pair, District Judge Jonathan Taaffe said: “This is a disgraceful episode. Fly-tipping is one of the scourges of modern society.

“People selfishly feel they can deposit waste on a small scale by throwing it out of a car window or by dropping things on the ground.

“They do this because they are too selfish or lazy to do things properly.

“This was on a larger scale where there was a clear commercial benefit and shows the attitude of someone who has little regard for other members of society.”

Hussain and Hamid were each handed 26-week jail terms, suspended for a year, ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and to pay £3,084 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.

Commenting on the case, Councillor Andy MacPherson, Chairman of Environmental and Development Services at South Derbyshire District Council, said: “We welcome Judge Taaffe’s comments. We will not tolerate fly-tipping in South Derbyshire.

“Fly-tipping is a deliberate and thoughtless act that blights the environment, is a danger to wildlife, is a source of pollution and a danger to public health, it undermines legitimate waste businesses.

"Failure to properly dispose of any type of waste is simply not acceptable and as this case shows, we will take action against anyone caught.”

25 March 2019