Woman in Tameside fined more than £500 after being taken to court over fly-tipping one bag of rubbish

A woman taken to court by a council will have to pay more than £500 for dumping a single rubbish bag on a Stalybridge road.

Tameside Council prosecuted a Mossley resident after she failed to pay a fixed penalty notice for littering.

Enforcement officers had traced a back of household waste which was found dumped on Huddersfield Road on February 8 back to Isabelle Driscoll.

The council said she ‘ignored’ numerous opportunities to pay the £80 fixed penalty notice, which had been served under section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, resulting in the town hall launching prosecution proceedings.

Ms Driscoll pleaded guilty in Tameside Magistrates Court to littering.

She will have to pay the £80 fine and and magistrates ordered her to pay an additional £490 in costs following the court hearing.

Tameside cabinet member for climate emergency and environmental services, Councillor Denise Ward said: “Littering is totally unacceptable and disrespectful to the local community and environment.

“Most people don’t litter and they dispose of their waste responsibly. But for those that do, we will investigate and take enforcement action wherever we can.

“Thank you to our enforcement officers for their tenacity and determination to investigate cases and leave no stone unturned in finding and taking action against those responsible.”