Watch: Brazen fly tipper who dumped three fridges in Wolverhampton city centre is hit with £2,800 court bill

A brazen fly tipper was caught on camera dumping three fridges in Wolverhampton city centre.

Algirdas Bardauskas, of Chester Street, Whitmore Reans, was caught dumping three fridges in Fold Street in the middle of the afternoon.

He was ordered to pay £2,800 by Dudley Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a breach of environmental protection laws.

Bardauskas was caught dumping two large fridges and a smaller one in Fold Street.

When questioned, he claimed he was coming back to collect them.

An eyewitness who reported the offence will receive a £100 Enjoy Wolverhampton gift card as a reward.

At Dudley Magistrates Court on August 19, Bardauskas pleaded guilty to one charge of depositing controlled waste under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Magistrates fined him £738, ordered a victim surcharge of £295 and awarded full costs of £1,793.16. The costs awarded to the council will be put back into its environmental crime service.

The court heard that on August 3 last year, at around 2.30pm, a white van was driven into Fold Street. A man was caught on CCTV unloading two fridges from the rear of the vehicle, leaving them in the street.

He then drove the vehicle out of view and reappeared carrying a third, smaller fridge, which he left with the others.

The council’s environmental crime team traced the vehicle’s registered keeper through DVLA records. It became clear that Bardauskas had borrowed the van from the registered keeper.

Bardauskas was interviewed by council officers and shown images of the fly tipping incident. He admitted that he had been driving the van and had dumped the fridges.

He said he needed the van to be empty for some work he was doing that day but had left the fridges with the intention of collecting them again. He said he returned to the location a week later to collect them again, but they had gone.

Bardauskas apologised for what he had done and said he would accept his punishment.

Councillor Qaiser Azeem, cabinet member for resident services at Wolverhampton Council, said: “Fly tipping is a blight on our communities, and we will not tolerate this kind of irresponsible behaviour in Wolverhampton.

“Our environmental crime team is committed to tracking down and taking action against those who dump waste illegally, and this prosecution demonstrates that offenders will be held accountable for their actions.

“I would like to thank the resident who reported this incident. Information from the public plays a vital role in helping us investigate and bring offenders to justice. I would encourage anyone who witnesses fly tipping to report it to us so that together we can continue to tackle this thoughtless crime.”

Councillor Azeem said the council had spent an additional £257,146 on the council’s environmental crime service this year to fund extra enforcement staff and six more security cameras to be placed at known hotspots across the city.

The council already used a variety of methods to tackle fly tipping, including CCTV, fines and its Shop a Tipper scheme, where anyone suspected of dumping rubbish has their images shared online to appeal for information to help identify them.

If the information provided leads to successful identification, and Fixed Penalty Notices are issued and paid or a prosecution takes place, residents receive a £100 Enjoy Wolverhampton gift card.

Residents can contact 01902 552700 with information or view images and report online at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/fly-tipping.