A MAN who dumped waste at a Merseyside beauty spot after being paid to dispose of it correctly has been landed with a fine and curfew.

Jon Best, of Sandfield Road, Woodchurch, pleaded guilty to fly-tipping the waste, which was found close to the junction of Thornton Common Road and Poulton Hall Road in Raby Mere.

At Wirral Magistrates Court this week, he was given a community order and curfew, with the council awarded costs of £1,316 and an £85 victim surcharge.

Cllr Anita Leech, cabinet member for environment, said: “We will always take action when we are able to identify someone who has deliberately fly-tipped waste in Wirral.

“In this particular case, the resident had genuinely believed he had employed a legitimate carrier to take away his waste, but he didn’t make the necessary checks.”

According to Wirral council, the investigation led the local authority to the address of a resident who believed he had employed a legitimate carrier to remove waste from his property on several occasions.

But in actual fact, Best, 44, was not registered with the environment agency to work as a waste carrier, and had taken most of the items he collected from the resident to the household waste recycling centre at Clatterbridge in his own car.

The court heard that the items found at Raby Mere were the last load he had taken from this customer and had been deliberately fly-tipped, posing a 'significant' risk to the environment, particularly given its location close to a freshwater course, the Clatter Brook.

Best’s 12-week community order was reduced to eight due to his guilty plea.

He is also now subject to a curfew, running from 7pm to 7am each day of the eight-week community order. The council was awarded costs of £1,316 and Best was also required to pay an £85 victim surcharge.

The local authority now wants to remind residents to check that anyone they pay to take items away from their property is correctly registered.

Cllr Leech added: “Householders have a duty of care to ensure that their waste is disposed of correctly and they should always check that the contractor they are using is a registered waste carrier. They should ask to see their licence and keep a note of the licence number; they should ask where the waste will be taken to and get a receipt that describes the waste.

“The law states that any person or company taking waste for payment must be registered with the Environment Agency. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Section 34, they are also required to produce transfer notes for the disposal of this waste that they must retain for two years.”