A WORKINGTON man has been left with a criminal conviction and a court bill for more than £1,300 after he illegally dumped rubbish at Lillyhall Industrial Estate.

A CCTV camera recorded Tom Logan, 53, as he disposed of the rubbish that he brought to the site in his father’s VW Caddy van on June 17 last year, throwing it onto land attached to an industrial unit on Lakes Road, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant admitted an offence under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act.  The rubbish he dumped included empty plastic bottles, carpet,  bubble-wrap, and planks of wood.

“It had the air of a house clearance,” said Brendan Burke, prosecuting. The prosecutor said Logan appeared to be running a “man with a van” type of business.

When his father was traced as the registered keeper of the van, the defendant immediately volunteered that he had used the vehicle that day and it was he who had dumped the rubbish.

He told investigators that he believed he would need a permit if he had tried to take the rubbish to a local recycling centre.

Mr Burke said: “The local authority said that is right but he would have been entitled to 12 renewable free permits per year, as long as it was not a certain type of waste.”

The local authority had chosen to prosecute because Logan had been the subject of a previous fixed penalty notice, the court heard.

That was issued in September 2022.  The landowner said it had cost him £360 to have the rubbish cleared away.

Sean Harkin, for Logan, whose address was given as Shore Road, Salterbeck, said the defendant had an acquired brain injury and the offence was not a part of any commercial activity. The rubbish had come from Logan’s father’s house, he said.

“It was a relatively small amount,” added the lawyer.

Judge Michael Fanning said that fly tipping had become increasingly common in recent years, with people tipping rubbish in beautiful parts of the country because they could not be bothered to do the job properly.

Often, it was impossible to catch those responsible but, in this instance, Logan was seen committing the offence on CCTV.

The judge gave the defendant a £320 fine along with an order to compensate the owner of the industrial unit whose land he tipped the rubbish on.

The defendant's total court bill, including costs and a victim surcharge, compensation for the landowner, and a victim surcharge, was a little over £1,300.

Logan faces 12 days in jail if he fails to pay up.