London duo who fly-tipped rubbish in Bristol fined £1.7k

Two men from the Greater London area have been fined the combined total of nearly £1,700 for illegally dumping rubbish on Station Road in Patchway.

The discarded items included furniture, a mattress and rubbish contained in black bin bags.

Azhar Beelontally, 22 from Tadworth in Surrey, and Rayhan Chowdhury, 21 from Dagenham in London, pleaded guilty to fly-tipping last spring.

The waste was cleared by South Gloucestershire Council and evidence was found relating to a nearby address in Brookfield Road, previously linked to the men.

The site of the fly-tip was within half a mile of Little Stoke Sort It recycling centre.

The council's cabinet member for communities and local place, Cllr Rachael Hunt, said: “I hope this case serves as a deterrent to anyone who considers dumping their waste illegally.

"This pair could have driven a short distance to their local Sort It recycling centre and disposed of their waste lawfully, but instead chose to dump it by the side of the road without consideration to the hazard it could cause others."

Beelontally stated he knew he should have recycled the waste at the recycling centre.

The pair were formally interviewed by Bristol City Council's Envirocrime team during the investigation, after which time, both men admitted to fly-tipping.

Beelontally was fined £1,015 and Chowdhury was fined £677. They also have to cover the £403 in costs after appearing at Bristol Magistrates Court.

Cllr Rachael Hunt said: "We have a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping here in South Gloucestershire and we have a 100% success rate for securing convictions for this type of offence.

"Anyone who dumps waste illegally here is five times more likely to be prosecuted than anywhere else in the country.

"Perpetrators can be certain that we will be tireless in our efforts to track them down and ensure justice is served."