Surveillance cameras spot vehicles - five now prosecuted over village dumps
A man and a woman have been fined and forced to pay legal costs after waste was dumped in a Norfolk village.
A van owned by Rebecca Simper was seen at 2 locations in Clenchwarton being watched by the Environment Agency. Meanwhile, Luke Webb's white Ford Transit tipper truck was captured by covert cameras at one of the sites.
Simper admitted owning a vehicle used to dump waste at Kenfield Farm in January 2024, after being presented with footage from an Environment Agency drone camera. She later failed to respond to 4 notices requiring her to name the driver.
King's Lynn magistrates fined her £200, ordering costs of £1,701.08, and a victim surcharge of £108.
In a separate legal case, but linked to Simper's by location, Webb was fined £200 by Norwich magistrates' court for pleading guilty after his truck was caught on camera at Clockcase Road in April 2023.
He also failed to answer official notices requiring him to identify who was behind the wheel. The court awarded costs of £850 to the Environment Agency and an £80 victim surcharge against Webb.
The Environment Agency had been watching both Clockcase Road and the farm since 2018 for signs of criminality. Clockcase Road includes 15 hectares of land close to the Great River Ouse, farmland and residential housing.
Last year, the Environment Agency prosecuted 2 other local men for dumping waste at Clockcase Road. Philip Moore, of West Winch, was fined £600, with costs and a victim surcharge of £1,014, while Fred Moore, of Swavesey, was given 100 hours of unpaid work and identical costs.
Phil Henderson, enforcement team leader for the Environment Agency in East Anglia, said:
We don't have to prove the identity of the driver to bring prosecutions for waste crime. Vehicles registered to Luke Webb and Rebecca Simper were caught on camera at illegal waste sites. Like 2 men prosecuted over Clockcase Road last year, they have paid the penalty.
Waste crime blights communities. It harms the environment, with a devastating effect on rivers and wildlife.
The Environment Agency is ramping up the fight against waste criminals. Its 10-point plan includes making greater use of restriction notices to shut down illegal waste operations immediately. Ignoring a restriction notice could land someone a year in prison.
More drone flights to track illegal waste sites, more specialist staff to pull apart organised crime gangs, and new tech to match lorry licences to waste permits will all help the Environment Agency spot dumps quicker, disrupt illegal activity sooner, and flag suspect operators before they can move waste illegally.
Simper first came to the Environment Agency's attention at Clockcase Road on 19 April 2023. Her Ford Luton van was seen there, despite a restriction order barring access.
It was a distinctive blue, with "MT Removals" written on the side. MT Removals was a trading name and not connected to any other company of the same or similar name.
DVLA checks prompted the Environment Agency to write to Simper to ask who was driving. They heard nothing back.
A week later, Luke Webb's tipper truck with an open back covered by tarpaulin was seen on the land at Clockcase Road, with 2 men inside. When it was driven away, the tarpaulin was gone, with no load.
Having traced the truck to Webb, the Environment Agency wrote to him, asking who was driving that Sunday in late April. He didn't reply.
Investigators wrote to Webb again twice more. Again, no response.
Webb failed to appear at court in July last year when charged with ignoring the notice, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Justice caught up with the 32-year-old when he surrendered to Norfolk Police last month, and was taken straight to court.
In the first few weeks of 2024, 8 months after Simper's van was seen at Clockcase Road, it was caught by a drone camera at Kenfield Farm.
A man and woman were seen unloading wood and other material, tossing it onto piles of waste already there. This was in breach of a stop notice issued two years previously that meant the dumping and burning of waste at the farm was illegal.
Luke Webb, of Saddlebow Caravan Park, and Rebecca Simper, 42, of Saddlebow Road, both in Saddlebow, were charged with failing to provide the Environment Agency with information of the driver of their respective vehicles, contrary to section 71 (3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. One count against Webb; 2 against Simper.
She was also charged with controlling, or being in a position to control, her van at Kenfield Farm, to knowingly cause the dumping of controlled waste without an environmental permit, contrary to section 33(1) and (5) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Last year, the Environment Agency prosecuted 2 other local men for dumping waste at Clockcase Road. Philip Moore, of West Winch, was fined £600, with costs and a victim surcharge of £1,014, while Fred Moore, of Swavesey, was given 100 hours of unpaid work and identical costs.
Another man, Danny Thorpe, is due to face trial in November for allegedly breaching a restriction order closing the land in Clockcase Road, and ignoring a stop notice at Kenfield Farm. He owns both. Thorpe was also charged with disposing of waste at the farm without a permit and likely to cause pollution or harm to human health.
Anyone who suspects waste crime can report it to the Environment Agency's 24-hour incident hotline, 0800 807060, or to CrimeStoppers on 0800 555111.
N.B. Video of waste being thrown from Rebecca Simper's van, captured by an Environment Agency drone, is available from the press office.
