Gloucestershire pub fly-tipper caught after leaving a letter with his address on

A man has been ordered to pay £1,541 after he was caught on CCTV fly-tipping outside a Gloucestershire country pub.

David Spiring was traced after an envelope with his address was found in the rubbish.

He later told environment enforcement officers he always fly-tipped his rubbish, as well as claiming he didn’t pay any taxes, rates, insurance, or fines.

The 38-year-old appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court last week (February 2) where he pleaded guilty.

Spiring previously failed twice to appear in court for the offence leading magistrates to issue a warrant for his arrest.

He was detained ahead of the hearing on Thursday, where he was ordered to pay a fine of £480, along with £813 in costs, £56 in clear-up costs, and a £192 victim surcharge.

The court heard that last summer the owner of The White Horse Public House on Hambrook Lane found a number of black household rubbish bags that had been discarded in the car park of the pub.

CCTV footage from the pub's security cameras revealed that a car had driven to the pub and the driver had dumped six black bags of rubbish in the car park before driving off.

Footage also appeared to show that the vehicle had three single mattresses attached to its roof, but they were not discarded, and the driver departed with them still attached to the car.

After contacting South Gloucestershire Council and Environmental Enforcement, who confirmed that it was general household waste, a letter addressed to Spiring at his home address was found within one of the bags.

After inspecting the vehicle captured on CCTV, Spiring was revealed as its registered keeper, and Automatic Number Plate Recognition enquiries were able to find the car in the vicinity of the offence at the time and date it was committed.

In August, Environmental Enforcement officers visited Spiring’s address where the same vehicle was parked on the driveway of the property.

Councillor Rachael Hunt, cabinet member responsible for environmental enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “This case is further proof of our unrelenting commitment to prosecute fly-tippers, and I hope it serves as a deterrent to anyone who considers dumping their waste illegally in South Gloucestershire.

“This waste could have been disposed of lawfully at one of our Sort It recycling centres, but instead, it was discarded in the car park of a public house and expected that others would clear it away.

"There is no excuse for fly-tipping, it has a negative impact on our communities and local environment, and we all have a responsibility to make sure that our waste is disposed of in the appropriate manner.

“We will pursue anyone who dumps their rubbish illegally through the courts, and our award-winning environmental enforcement team has a 100 per cent record of securing successful prosecutions for this type of offence.

"Our zero-tolerance approach means that anyone who fly-tips in South Gloucestershire is five times more likely to be prosecuted than anywhere else in the country."