
An HGV driver has been fined more than £3,000 after he was filmed fly tipping 30 pallets onto the side of the A40 in broad daylight.
Hereford Magistrates heard how two witnesses noticed pallets being thrown from the back of a lorry into a hedge of a layby within the county at around 1.30pm on 20 June 2023.
They turned off at the next junction and travelled back along the A40 to film Valentin Ene carrying out the offence.
The footage was reviewed by enforcement officers in the council’s community protection team who traced Ene using his HGV’s registration.
The Basildon-based lorry driver told officers he needed to empty his truck in order to pick up goods from a business in Hereford, a job he was carrying out as part of his work as an HGV driver.
He failed to appear for his first scheduled court hearing and an arrest warrant was issued. As a result, Ene was arrested and appeared in court on 4 March where he pleaded guilty to fly tipping and failing in his duty of care.
Ene was fined £1600, ordered to pay £814.09 in costs and a victim surcharge of £640.
Charles Yarnold, Herefordshire Council’s head of public protection, said: “Every year, tens of thousands of pounds of council tax payers’ money is spent on clearing up fly tipping and unlawful waste disposal.
“Thank you to the members of the public who assisted in providing the evidence in this case which demonstrates our excellent community spirit.”