Fly-tipping frustration

He left a leaflet advertising his services, one of which was rubbish removal. A search of the Environment Agency list showed he was not licenced,and a telephone call to their Kent and Sussex office confirmed this.

I explained the situation and, the leaflet having no address, provided them with the landline telephone number on the leaflet.

To my amazement, I was told that they had no powers to obtain an address from a telephone number and, unless he was caught in the act carrying waste, they could do nothing.

I asked if they kept an intelligence data base for such information as I had provided and the answer was no. So much for a proactive approach!

A phone call to a commercial waste transfer station put me in touch with a very helpful man who, on hearing the nature of my enquiry, confirmed that as a matter of good practice, not legal obligation, they do check the licences of vehicles depositing commercial waste, but some less scrupulous sites do not .

Non-licenced vehicles are turned away but no information is passed to the authorities, which would seem to me an obvious route to apprehend unlicenced operators.

A trawl of the internet brought up a Waltham Forest Council site recording court cases of fly tipping and/or carrying waste without a licence, and in the majority of cases the fine for flytipping was considerably less than the fine for not having a licence!

Obviously, the civil service mentality dictates that the lack of paperwork is more serious than the disgusting offence of flytipping!

Since licencing clearly does nothing to prevent flytipping by anyone, whether they have a licence or not, surely harsher punishment for offenders is required, not bureaucratic paper-issuing to legitimate businesses?

PETER EXLEY

Hawkhurst Way

Bexhill-on-Sea