Birmingham man fined over £2K after rubbish dumped near Household Recycling Centre

An incident that saw waste dumped approximately 400 metres away from a Birmingham Household Recycling Centre has led to a man being ordered to pay £2,690 for his offences.

The punishment was handed down by Birmingham Magistrates’ Court to David Biddulph, aged 34, of Churchill Road, Handsworth, following an incident on June 3 of 2020 that was investigated by Birmingham City Council’s Waste Enforcement Team.

Two vehicles were spotted on a service road near the rear of the Dura Automotive factory in Castle Bromwich on two separate occasions and the drivers of the vehicles were seen to jointly remove tree cuttings and foliage and dump them on the street before leaving.

The incidents were witnessed by individuals using the service road at the time and captured on a passing vehicle’s dashcam and the CCTV system of the factory – situated less than 400m from the city’s Tameside Drive Household Recycling Centre.

Enquiries into the vehicles resulted in Biddulph being identified as the hirer of one of them. He was served with notices requesting information about who was in charge and the driver of this vehicle on the date in question.

However, he only responded by confirming that he was “in charge” of the vehicle and he did not confirm who was driving it at the time.

Biddulph was also sent a notice requesting information about the second vehicle, which he stated he had seen and followed after it had dumped the waste. However, he failed to provide any further information in respect of that either.

Despite pleading not guilty to offences under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 at his trial on February 21 of this year, Magistrates fined Biddulph £2,000 and he was ordered to pay a further £500 in costs along with a victim surcharge of £190.

Cllr John O’Shea, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Parks at Birmingham City Council, said: “It is ironic that this offending took place so close to one of our Household Recycling Centres, even though non-residents are not allowed to use them.

“Fly-tippers, regardless of where they are from, are simply not welcome in this city. I’d like to thank the witnesses and the business that shared evidence to enable this prosecution – it shows that where we can, we do prosecute as we want to ensure cleaner, greener, streets for all.”

Investigations are ongoing in relation to the second vehicle which was captured in footage during this incident.