A man who admitted throwing polystyrene out of his car window after claiming he was trying to escape a wasp and even produced the dead insect during his interview with investigators, has been fined £1,000 by Wiltshire Council.
The incident happened in Warminster in June, when a witness saw a driver throwing pieces of polystyrene from the passenger-side window into a hedgerow.
The driver continued on his way without stopping to retrieve the rubbish, but the witness returned around half an hour later, collected the discarded material and reported the incident to the council.
CCTV footage captured the offence, and the suspected fly-tipper was subsequently invited to attend an interview under caution.
He told investigators he had intended to take the polystyrene to a household recycling centre, but claimed a wasp had emerged from the material while he was driving and stung him on the leg.
He said he began throwing pieces of polystyrene out of the passenger window in an attempt to get rid of the unwelcome passenger while continuing to drive.
And in what must rank among the more unusual attempts to support an explanation for fly-tipping, he brought the deceased wasp to his interview and showed officers the sting on his leg.
Unfortunately for him, producing the alleged culprit did not get him off the hook.
Wiltshire Council issued him with a £1,000 fixed penalty notice (FPN) for fly-tipping. As a fixed penalty notice is not a court conviction, the man cannot be named.
Cllr Martin Smith, Cabinet Member for Highways, Streetscene and Flooding, said: “This is certainly one of the more unusual explanations our enforcement team has heard, but it does not change the fact that waste was deliberately thrown from a vehicle and left in the countryside.
“Fly-tipping and littering blight our communities, damage the environment and create unnecessary clean-up costs. We are grateful to the witness who took the time to report this incident and provide evidence.
“This case shows that if you dispose of waste irresponsibly, we will investigate and take appropriate action.”
The witness who reported the incident was rewarded with a £100 shopping voucher under the council’s We’re Targeting Fly-tippers (WTF) campaign, which encourages residents to help with fly-tipping investigations.
The council urges anyone who witnesses fly-tipping to report it, particularly if they have photographs, video footage or vehicle registration details.
Incidents can be reported through the Wiltshire Council website.
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