A Salford plumber has admitted dumping rubbish at Irlam Moss because he was frustrated with his company’s waste disposal policy.
Paul Cutayar dumped three bags of general plumbing waste on land at Fiddlers Lane, Irlam, because he was annoyed he was supposed to keep it in his van until it could be picked up by another driver.
Mr Cutayar, 27, of Eldon Road, Irlam, pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates Court on 14 September 2015 to illegally dumping waste
Paperwork among the rubbish pointed Salford City Council officials straight back to Homeserve Membership Ltd in Preston and landed Mr Cutayar to court.
He was fined £800, ordered to pay costs of £780.43 and a victim surcharge of £80.
The court heard that council officials came across the waste on Monday 2 March during a routine patrol of fly-tipping hotspots.
Some of it was in a deep drainage ditch on the land which is part of Irlam Moss.
The land has the potential to be restored to lowland raised bog which is recognised as providing an internationally important habitat for wildlife, insects and plants by both the UK and the European Union.
Mr Cutayar told council officers that he had dumped the waste on the Friday evening before it was found. He said it was purely out of frustration and a bad decision on his part.
The company had one waste collector who drove round to meet the vans and he felt a firm of that size should have more.
He said he was not trying to put the blame on the company as he made the decision to fly tip and understood that local people would be angry and unhappy about his actions.
Speaking after the case Councillor Gena Merrett, Executive Lead Member for Housing and Environment at Salford City Council, said: “Mr Cutayar was right in saying this was a bad decision on his part. He should not have taken his frustrations with his employer out on the environment of Salford. I hope this is a valuable lesson to him and others that we will not tolerate people flytipping in Salford.”
Salford City Council receives 283 reports every month of incidents of illegal dumping/fly-tipping and spends approximately £140,000 every year investigating and clearing up after flytippers. This cost is met by the council tax and business rate payers of Salford.
This prosecution is as a result of an on-going city wide multi agency operation called ‘Operation Pandora’ which has so far prosecuted 41 offenders resulting in fines of more than £33,000.
