Man fined for fly-tipping a washing machine in a Grimsby car park

A Cleethorpes man left court with a £715 bill after pleading guilty to fly-tipping a washing machine.

Anton Zenobiu, 36, of Grimsby Road, Cleethorpes, was caught on CCTV dumping the appliance at the Garibaldi Street Car Park in Grimsby.

Video footage from the car park cameras shows him pulling into the car park with a washing machine in the back of his Toyota Rav4.

Zenobiu and another man are seen climbing out of the car and walking to the boot. The washing machine is left behind near a bank of recycling bins as they drive away.

The offence happened on 18 May 2019 and the defendant was sent a fixed penalty notice for £400.

He failed to pay the fine and as a result, appeared before Grimsby Magistrates’ Court on 30 April 2021.

Zenobiu was fined £325, ordered to pay a contribution towards costs in the sum of £358 and a victim surcharge of £32, making a total of £715.

In mitigation, the defendant said he did not realise it was an offence. He told officers he would take items to the tip in future or book a bulky waste collection.

Cllr Ron Shepherd, portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities, said:

“It costs us tens of thousands of pounds each year to clean up after people who dump their waste illegally.

“In this case, the defendant could have taken the washing machine to the tip for free and used the Council’s bulky waste service.

“Instead, he chose to dump it in a car park and has ended up with a court bill for £715.

“Fly-tipping is illegal. We investigate all incidents and where we have enough evidence we will act by imposing a fine or taking suspects to court.

“Report fly-tipping to us at www.nelincs.gov.uk/flytipping.”

Enforcement action

People who don’t check the credentials of waste carriers, can also be prosecuted if their waste is found fly-tipped.
They could land themselves with a fine of £300 and possibly more if they are a business.

In the last 18 months, enforcement officers issued 86 fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and other waste-related offences, including three for failing to give waste to an authorised carrier. More cases are due to be heard in court.