Sutton man jailed for fly-tipping in Mansfield

Tadas Voronicas, aged 23, of Walton Street, Sutton, received a three-day sentence to run concurrent to a 12-month jail sentence for perverting the course of justice in relation to driving offences.

The case, at Nottingham Crown Court on January, 25, 2019, follows the conviction at Mansfield Magistrates' Court on November, 9, 2018 of garage owner Andrius Vigelis, aged 37, of Arthur Street, Mansfield, who pleaded guilty to failing to comply with his business duty of care in respect of waste.

Voronicas and Vigelis were prosecuted by Mansfield District Council after a large amount of waste, including general waste and car parts, was found fly tipped in Newlands Road, Mansfield, on December, 4, 2017.

The magistrates heard that Vigelis had been renting a garage in Arthur Street and had been storing business waste in a customer’s van.

He accepted that by storing waste in the van he had not taken reasonable steps to prevent the waste being fly tipped, but said that he had not given permission for his waste to be dumped.

The magistrates fined him £320 and ordered him to pay £250 in costs and a £32 victim surcharge.

The council’s case against Voronicas, who admitted fly tipping, was heard by Mansfield magistrates on December, 28, 2018 and the case was committed for sentence to Nottingham Crown Court where charges for perverting the course of justice, brought by the Crown Prosecution Service, were also listed to be heard.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that Voronicas had used the van and dumped the waste in Newlands Road.

Jailing Voronicas, His Honour Judge Spencer QC said there was “great and legitimate public concern" about fly tipping.

He went on to say that what Voronicas had done was "a blatant example of finding a country location and dumping harmful rubbish on what would otherwise be a pleasant bridleway”.

“It spoils the countryside for so many people, and whilst you had this prosecution hanging over you, drove with excess alcohol and then masqueraded under a false identity," said the judge.

After the case, Councillor Bill Drewett, Portfolio Holder for Safer Communities, said: "We hope these cases serve as a reminder to people that the council takes the problem of fly tipping very seriously and we will prosecute whenever possible.

"No one likes to see fly tipping and every resident and business has a duty to ensure that their waste is disposed of responsibly."