St Albans fly-tippers fined almost £600 after dumping rubble outside supermarket
Eight shopping trolleys full of rubble were fly-tipped outside Morrisons in Hatfield Road, St Albans. Picture: St Albans district council - Credit: Archant
Two fly-tippers have been ordered to pay £579 after dumping eight shopping trolleys full of builders’ rubble outside a St Albans supermarket.
Giorgo Nasso, 43, and Tzortzi Viezi, 43, both pleaded guilty to one offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 after they dumped the rubble outside Morrisons.
The pair, who are both directors of the Greek restaurant Souvlaki in Hatfield Road, admitted failure to properly dispose of controlled waste.
They had allowed two other men working for them to dump the material, contained in black bags and boxes, beside the supermarket's recycling area.
Nasso and Viezi were prosecuted by St Albans district council, who had investigated the flytip - which took place in December last year.
Council officers had examined the illegally dumped waste and were able to trace it to the Souvlaki restaurant, where building work was being undertaken.
Both culprits were interviewed under caution and later summoned to appear at St Albans Crown Court on Wednesday (December 18).
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In mitigation, the court heard both men had cooperated with the inquiry and entered swift guilty pleas.
They were ordered by magistrates to pay a fine of £218, compensation to the council of £96, a victim surcharge of £30 and legal costs of £235 - making £579 in total.
After the hearing Cllr Chris White, the council leader and portfolio holder for climate and environment, said: "This was another successful prosecution that we have brought for fly-tipping, the fourth this year.
"Flytips are a blight on our community as they are a hazard, an eyesore and cost council taxpayers a considerable amount of money to clear up.
"We are determined to clamp down on this crime by tracking down offenders and taking tough and appropriate action against them.
"In this case, we had the directors of a restaurant allowing the fly-tipping of a considerable amount of builders' waste.
"That is not how we expect businesses in the district to behave."
In May this year, a man who allowed his van to be used for fly-tipping was fined nearly £700 by the district council.
