Fly-tippers dumping waste in St Albans district have been prosecuted as part of a clampdown on the anti-social practice.

Christopher Brown, 26, of Doggetts Way, St Albans, left a box of brake calipers underneath the M1 bridge at Bedmond Lane.

He was working on a car by the side of the motorway in January when he left the litter - Brown pleaded guilty at St Albans Magistrates Court on August 16, and was fined £265 plus £165 costs and a victim surcharge of £30.

In a separate incident, Sarah Manners, 43, of Curtiss Road, Leavesden, paid a man with a transit van to get rid of her broken bed and mattress, without asking to see a waste carriers licence or any other documentation.

He dumped the unwanted bed furnishings under the same M1 motorway bridge - it was linked back to Manners because her address was among on the waste.

Manners pleaded guilty at St Albans Magistrates court on August 16 to not taking proper care with her waste, and she was fined £120 plus £165 costs and a victim surcharge of £30.

St Albans district council (SADC) investigated both of these incidents.

Portfolio holder for environment for SADC, Cllr Daniel Chichester-Miles, said: “Many people hate fly-tipping and the ugly sight of waste dumped at the roadside.

“The council takes a hard line on fly-tippers, prosecuting people where there is evidence to show that they are responsible for dumping waste.”

In response to Manners’ prosecution, he added: “Everyone has a legal responsibility to make sure that their waste is disposed of properly.

“If they fail to do this and their waste is tracked back to them after being discovered in a fly-tip, they could be prosecuted and fined.”

Householders have a duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act to make sure their waste will not be fly-tipped. To avoid prosecution, people are obliged to check if the disposal service they are using is authorised at environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers

If anyone sees waste being fly-tipped, call the police on 999, note the vehicle registration number and take photos.

To report some litter already left call the police on 101, and report it to SADC on wastemanagementservices@stalbans.gov.uk or at 01727 809019.