Fly-tipper faces £6,000 fine after false story exposed by camera footage

A man-with-a-van who dumped a large pile of waste in South Bucks has been handed fines and costs of nearly £6,000.

Aurelian Stoev, 32, from Drayton Gardens in West Drayton, was caught dumping a large pile of waste in Langley Park Road, Iver.

The waste was found in October last year and triggered a Buckinghamshire Council investigation – which pointed in the direction of a building company.

The company explained they had paid a man in a van to remove the waste from an address in Northampton.

In the same month, this vehicle was linked to another large waste dump in Fulmer.

A witness came forward saying he saw two large tipper vans leaving the scene that afternoon.

Footage from a nearby Bucks council camera showed a large tipper van, full of the same waste which was later found dumped, roughly 400m from where it was found.

This vehicle was traced back to Stoev.

In an interview at Slough Police Station, he admitted to the Hawkswood Lane offence – though did not take full responsibility.

He said that his van had broken down and he left it in Hawkswood Lane for a couple of days.

At the time, there was no waste inside, Stoev said – but when he returned, it was full of waste which someone else must have put inside, he claimed.

However, after seeing the video evidence, Stoev retracted his story and admitted to dumping the waste.

Stoev did not admit to the other offence at Langley Park Road.

Nonetheless, he was fined for both.

At High Wycombe Magistrates Court on October 15, Stoev was fined £1,038 for both offences and ordered him to pay costs and compensation of more than £3,075.

A victim surcharge of £830 was also levied, making a total of £5,981.

After the outcome of the court case, Ade Osibogun, Bucks council’s cabinet member for waste, said:

“Buckinghamshire Council has a zero-tolerance stance on fly-tipping. It is against the law and where we have the evidence to prosecute, we will seek to bring offenders to justice.

“In this case, the offender tried to fabricate a story to evade taking responsibility, but we have eyes everywhere and are supported by members of the public who feel as strongly as we do about fly-tipping.

“We are grateful to everyone who joins us in our mission to stamp out fly-tipping and would ask anyone who sees anything suspicious or has evidence of a fly-tipping incident taking place to contact us so we can investigate.”

If you have evidence of an offence and are willing to provide a witness statement, contact the council’s enforcement team at: SCRAPflytipping@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

To report fly-tipping anywhere in Buckinghamshire, visit: buckinghamshire.gov.uk/fix-my-street