Gardener from Winslow ends up with bill of more than £2,000 for dumping waste in hedge

Christopher Gary Hodges, 58, of High Street, Winslow was found guilty of fly-tipping by magistrates after an incident in October 2016.

The court heard that at 5:20am on October 13 Hodges was filmed by a surveillance camera dumping five sacks of waste from his gardening business in the hedge at a field entrance off Station Road in Little Horwood.

Investigators traced Hodges through the vehicle registration number of the car.

When interviewed, Hodges admitted dumping the waste.

He claimed that he usually took garden waste to be composted, but on that occasion he had not been able to do that.

Hodges said he could not remember why, but he admitted he had dumped the waste in the hedge where it was found.

Magistrates fined him £960, and ordered clean-up and prosecution costs to be paid which came to £1,196.59.

A victim surcharge of £96 was also levied – making a total to pay of £2,252.59.

Aylesbury Vale district council cabinet member for the evironment Sir Beville Stanier said: “There are plenty of facilities in Bucks for the disposal of commercial waste.

“This man’s decision to dump his waste in the countryside instead proved very costly and left him with a conviction.”