A North London man has been ordered to pay more than £4,500 after being caught on camera dumping an old bed by the side of the road.
The council claims it has “ramped up” enforcement action on fly-tippers throughout the borough, with officers also sending £1,000 fines to people caught fly-tipping.
Last year, Brent Council declared a zero-tolerance approach to what it called “selfish litter louts” after a staggering 35,000 cases were recorded in 2022/23.
In February, the local authority launched its ‘Don’t Mess With Brent’ campaign, which aims to deploy more enforcement officers and issue heavier fines against those guilty of offences.
As well as more enforcement officers and bigger fines, the council has installed cameras in hotspot areas to catch those committing “waste crimes”.
One of those is on Queensbury Park road, where last year Wembley resident Naiffisa Leila Abbas was recorded trying to dump an old bed, alongside more rubbish, by the side of the road.
The matter went to Willesden Magistrates’ Court in October of last year, where Mr Leila Abbas was found guilty. However, he did not attend so was fined an additional £2,000 by the judge. In total he was ordered to pay £4,600 for act, which the council’s claims shows that it “won’t accept it”.
As part of central government’s Plan for Change, local authorities have been given additional powers to clamp down on fly-tipping offenders – which currently costs Brent Council more than £1.5m a year.
The local authority says the campaign is “beginning to yield results”. It has issued 30 per cent more fines to offenders than the previous year, and recorded a decrease in the number of fly-tips reported in the borough over the same period, according to council figures.
As part of the initiative, the enforcement team has also been touring Brent looking for evidence of those responsible for fly-tipping. If anything is found to identify the perpetrator, the council has been sending £1,000 fines through the post.
It has warned guilty parties that “we will catch you”.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Enforcement, Cllr Krupa Sheth, said: “We are taking a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping, which means you will see more enforcement officers on the streets catching people like we have done here.
“Well done to them and let this be a lesson to anyone considering fly-tipping our streets, we won’t accept it!”
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