A man has received a nine-month suspended prison sentence and a four month curfew after three fly-tipping incidents.

John Hegarty, 28, formerly of Fox Avenue in Yate pleaded guilty to the offences in Lodge Road in Abson, Ham Lane in Doynton and Woodend Lane in Rockhampton.

Hegarty, now of Pontypool, was handed the sentence, curfew and ordered to pay £950 at Bristol Crown Court on July 16.

He operated a business called Ever Green Tree & Gardening Services and Rubbish Removal, getting work through cold-calls and flyers from August 2017 until November 2018.

An investigation by South Gloucestershire Council's environmental protection team found that Hegarty was paid £140 to collect waste from a restaurant that was being refurbished in Calne, Wiltshire August 2017.

The waste was later found fly-tipped in Lodge Road, Abson and in Ham Lane, Doynton.

In October 2018, Hegarty was then paid £150 to collect some waste from a householder in Withywood, Bristol which was later found fly-tipped in Woodend Lane, Rockhampton.

Hegarty’s identity was confirmed following further enquiries.

He was interviewed under caution in February 2019 at the South Gloucestershire Council Offices in Yate, during which he admitted both fly-tips at Lodge Road and Ham Lane, and the fly tip in Woodend Lane, Rockhampton.

South Gloucestershire Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Rachael Hunt said: “Fly-tipping is completely unacceptable and we will be relentless in our attempts to identify and prosecute individuals who break the law in this manner.

“Our zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping in South Gloucestershire means that anyone who fly-tips here is up to five times more likely to be prosecuted than anywhere else in the country. We want people to realise that fly-tipping really isn’t worth the risk and to dispose of their waste in a responsible manner.

“I encourage anyone who has information in relation to instances of fly-tipping in South Gloucestershire to get in touch with our Envirocrime team who will investigate the matter further.”

Rather than directly issuing fly-tipping Fixed Penalty Notices, which is one tool that can be used by local authorities in some circumstances to combat fly-tipping, South Gloucestershire Council adopts a different approach to tackle the problem. Our environmental protection team co-ordinates education and enforcement action, gathering evidence to pursue offenders through the courts.