A woman has been convicted after allowing her tipper truck to be used for fly-tipping.

Kathleen Stokes, previously of Dun Roamin Park, Whitfield, Brackley in Northamptonshire, appeared in Highbury Corner magistrates’ court on Monday for knowingly causing waste to be dumped on Stonehill Business Park, Edmonton with no permit or exemption.

Her tipper truck was discovered in March 2018 after an environmental crime officer attended an illegal encampment at Unit 8, Harbet Road in Edmonton. At the site, several caravans and vehicles were seen alongside a large amount of waste. The officer saw a grey tipper truck filled with wood-type waste driving past.

Enfield Independent:

The tipper truck registered to Kathleen Stokes. Photo: Environment Agency

Later the same day, the officer found the tipper truck parked up in Maplins car park in Ravenside Retail Park, near the Unit 8 site. In order to trace the waste on the truck, she added to the pile her own handwritten note stating the date and location.

The officer attended Unit 8 again on April 18, 2018. The area had been vacated but she found more waste. The officer recovered from one pile of rubbish her handwritten note, confirming that the load was the same load discovered on the tipper truck in March.

Enfield Independent:

Wood waste the Environment Agency believed was dumped from Stokes’s tipper truck, with waste dropped by third parties. Photo: Environment Agency

Stokes, who was the registered keeper of the truck, pleaded guilty to allowing her vehicle to be used to illegally dump waste. She was fined £200, and ordered to pay costs of £2,000 and a victim surcharge of £30.

Stephen Sweetlove, area enforcement manager from the Environment Agency, said: “Where a vehicle is used to unlawfully deposit waste, the person in control of the vehicle, or in a position to control it, is deemed criminally liable for the deposit of the waste.

“Through the persistent intervention of our officers, the Environment Agency has seen a reduction in the number of offences linked to Operation Angola. Our conviction of Stokes shows we pursue law-breakers from the crime to the courtroom.”