A WARNING has been issued to check the credentials of anyone offering to take away household waste after a Newport man admitted allowing rubbish to be dumped.

Newport City Council brought a prosecution against Kieron Kenny of Chepstow Road, Langstone, who paid a a man offering to take away household rubbish. But instead the rogue trader illegally dumped it in Chapel Road, Nash.

When they were called to the scene officers from the council’s Pride in Newport waste enforcement team found a B&Q delivery note addressed to Kenny in the rubbish and contacted him.

Kenny told officers he had been carrying out work on his property when he was approached by a man with a white van and a trailer, who said he would take away rubbish for £50.

Although he said the man had told him he had a permit, Kenny was unable to back this up.

The council brought a prosecution against him and he appeared at Cwmbran Magistrates Court on Monday, February 13, where he pleaded guilty to breaching the Environmental Protection Act by knowingly causing controlled waste to be dumped without a permit and failing to ensure the rubbish was handed over to an authorised person.

The court handed him a two-year conditional discharge, reduced from three years for his early guilty plea, and ordered him to pay council costs of £561.24 and a victim surcharge of £20.

The council’s deputy leader Cllr Ray Truman welcomed the result and warned other residents not to fall victim to similar scams.

“We take incidents of fly-tipping very seriously and will take action through the courts against those who fail to dispose of rubbish legally,” he said.

“It is in everyone’s interest to ensure that any operator who asks for money to dispose of waste carries a proper permit issued by Newport City Council.

“It is up to the customer to check those credentials thoroughly, or they can end up in court, as in this case.”

He also congratulated the authority’s Pride in Newport team.