A County Durham woman has been left hundreds of pounds worse off and with a criminal record after being caught flytipping. Amy Wall, 25, who lives in Bishop Auckland, dumped household waste from the back of a car at Shildon. Durham County Council CCTV captured footage of the fly-tip while Wall also left her address in the dumped waste. Wall was taken to court by the council as part of its awardwinning Operation Stop It fly-tipping campaign and now has a conviction and more than £600 to pay. Newton Aycliffe magistrates heard how a council neighbourhood warden called at Brusselton Lane, an area where the council has fitted cameras in response to persistent fly-tipping, on 14 January last year. The warden discovered a pile of household waste which had been dumped at the scene. Among the waste was an envelope addressed to Wall, of High Lands, Cockfield. The warden checked the footage from the CCTV which showed a Silver Vauxhall Corsa pull up. A man and woman can then be seen getting out, taking rubbish out of the boot and dumping it before driving off. The warden carried out checks of the car’s registration and found it to be registered to Wall. The defendant was twice contacted by the council to request she attend an interview but failed to respond.
She was then asked for information of who was driving the car at the time of the fly-tip. Wall requested that correspondence be sent to her parents’ address. A final attempt was made to have Wall attend for interview but again she failed to respond. The defendant was prosecuted for illegally dumping waste as part of Operation Stop It, the council’s biggest ever campaign to tackle flytipping in partnership with Durham Constabulary, the Environment Agency and Crimestoppers. She pleaded guilty and apologised. Wall was fined £560 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £56, a total of £616. Ian Hoult, the council’s neighbourhood protection manager, said: “The vast majority of people get rid of their waste legally: be that using their bins, our free household waste recycling centres or our bulky waste collection service. “There really is never any excuse for blighting our beautiful county by fly-tipping. “Miss Wall was caught by one of the cameras we’ve deployed as part of Operation Stop It and we hope the financial penalty imposed on her will deter anyone else from committing environmental crime. “Anyone tempted to commit such offences should also be warned that a criminal record can mean you’re not allowed in to some foreign countries.” Operation Stop It named Keep Britain Tidy’s Environmental Campaign of the Year at the charity’s Network Awards 2017 – at which the council also won the Local Authority of the Year category. Find out about the various ways to get rid of your waste at www.durham.gov.uk/recycling