The discovery of a large amount of fly tipped waste, which included bathroom furnishings, near a picnic site in Neath, led to a van driver appearing at Swansea Magistrates Court after concerned residents called in Neath Port Talbot Council’s Waste Enforcement Team.
At the court on Thursday May 29th 2025, Richard Marc Holland, 47, of Jersey Road, Bonymaen, was fined £153 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs and a £61 victim surcharge after he pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
While the defendant was not seen to have deposited the waste, section 33(5) of this Act establishes that the person in control of a vehicle carrying controlled waste, is considered to be knowingly causing the waste to be deposited, even without direct instructions, if the waste is deposited from the vehicle.
This means that the person in control of the vehicle is held responsible for the waste’s illegal deposit, regardless of whether they personally gave the order for the waste to be deposited.
The waste was discovered on Tuesday October 18th 2022, near Mosshouse Reservoir, Fairyland Road, Tonna, Neath, when a number of people who knew the area as a fly tipping hotspot became suspicious after a tipper style van containing bathroom furnishings was seen close to the reservoir site.
They later discovered the waste illegally deposited near the picnic site which included a broken toilet, a sink and shower screens. Photographs of the waste and the details of the vehicle were supplied by the witnesses to the Waste Enforcement team.
Investigation work by two of the council’s Waste Enforcement officers found the dumped waste had come from a home which had undergone a bathroom refurbishment and the vehicle’s owner was traced.
The owner said at the time of the offence the vehicle was being used by Richard Marc Holland who later attended an interview with Waste Enforcement officers at Neath Civic Centre.
At the interview, while accepting he was in control the van on the day of the offence, he denied depositing the waste claiming he had taken it to a skip. He told the officers “Someone must have placed the waste back in the vehicle from the skip and travelled to the location and deposited it”.
This led to the charge under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as above which the defendant pleaded guilty to in court.
Cllr Scott Jones, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene, said: “I’d like to thank the members of the public for their community spirited action in initially bringing this matter to our attention.
“Fly tipping is a crime against our environment and we will pursue a prosecution either in court or via a Fixed Penalty Notice. We take this nationwide issue extremely seriously and will continue to have a zero-tolerance approach.”
