I'll just have my quick two bob's worth here...regarding fly tipping, the major point is PROOF. Good, solid evidence is needed to be able prosecute fly tippers. You (a council) have to able to prove without doubt that Mr P.I.Key was the man who dumped the rubbish. Finding letters or bills with a name on isn't enough, all that does is to prove that Mr. P.I Key lives at that address and received that bill/letter, it isn't proof that he dumped the stuff.
Our council, like many, know the hot spots for fly tipping and have placed hidden cameras in place to try and catch these people actually dumping the stuff, but nine times out of ten they don't catch the faces with enough clarity to be able to identify them. Or they get nicked or destroyed...we used to have night time patrols, but what with council expenditure cuts nowadays, they can't now afford to pay the overtime, so night patrols are being phased out.
We have a section of the old A259 which was largely abandoned when the bypass went in, this became a haven for fly tippers and sexual weirdos. After a few years of continual fly tipping and moans and groans from us spending so much time there clearing the tips, the road was sealed off at both ends. The council congratulated themselves on solving that problem...next week the tippers had found new spots and just continued fly tipping. We spent all our time running round looking for the new places...
There isn't really an answer to it, I fear...the tippers themselves don't give a monkey's about dumping the stuff, they've been paid to dump it and dump it they will, wherever it may be. It's not just small lots either, we've often arrived at a fly tip and it's blindingly obvious that what's before us came out of a big tipper truck, not out of the back of Joe Public's little car's boot.
I could rant on and on about fly tippers, they are a scourge upon society, but there's very little to be done about them. The stuff that they dump is often quite dangerous to the guys who have to clear it up...needles, broken glass, asbestos, broken baths and toilet seats..these are deadly to the poor old council worker who is sent to clear the mess up. I've cut my hands and fingers on glass and broken toilet seats so many times, one of the lads had a needle in his finger, went off to hospital, and then had to spend eight weeks in a panic whilst awaiting the outcome of blood tests. Not funny...at all.
Fly tippers are here to stay, I'm afraid...
Moan over...back to the original point of this post in the first place...fireworks.
