A Swindon resident has been handed a £400 fixed penalty notice by Wiltshire Council after paying an unlicenced person to dispose of their domestic waste.

The waste was dumped in a layby in Winterbourne Monkton, near the Avebury World Heritage Site.

The litter was inspected by Environmental Enforcement Officers who found evidence that related to the Swindon resident.

This resident was fined £400 because they could not demonstrate that they had “sufficiently taken steps to ensure their waste was being disposed of legitimately by a registered waste carrier.”

The resident admitted they had not requested to see a waste carrier’s licence, nor did they record vehicle details or obtain a receipt.

If they had been able to give council officers details of who took their waste from them, they could have avoided the fine and the investigation would have been targeted towards the person who dumped the waste.

The resident cannot be named, as a fixed penalty notice is not a conviction in an open court.

Councillor Caroline Thomas, cabinet member for Transport and Street Scene, said: “We take fly-tipping very seriously here in Wiltshire, and as part of our Business Plan commitment and ongoing We’re Targeting Fly-tippers (WTF) campaign, we have invested an extra £150,000 a year into tackling this environmental crime.

“This money has been invested in more enforcement staff and new technologies such as covert cameras to catch fly-tippers in the act and to prosecute these criminals, and we have issued more fixed penalty notices and prosecuted more fly-tippers in 2023 than ever before.

“With Christmas approaching, we urge householders to be extra vigilant when paying someone to take any waste away and to make sure they check they have a valid upper tier waste carrier licence; note their vehicle registration, make and model; and get a receipt or waste transfer note.

“Anyone who reports a fly-tipper to us could also receive a reward of up to £200 in high street vouchers if the information leads to the successful prosecution of an offender or the payment of a FPN.”

In October 2023, it was announced that litter-picking groups across Wiltshire had gathered over 7,500kg of discarded waste since the beginning of the year.

According to the council, the amount of litter found equated to around 1,270 bags.

Penalties for larger scale fly-tipping offenders can escalate to an unlimited fine and/or five years' imprisonment.