A man who tried to impress his girlfriend by clearing out some rubbish from her new home ended up with a driving ban, a fine… and getting dumped.
Philip Marshall, 46, of Eccles, Greater Manchester, had intended to clean the property of ‘bits and bobs’ as a surprise while she was away.
However, he was caught on a business’s CCTV using her car without her knowing – and without a driving licence – and then left waste, including a large cardboard box and a Venetian blind, on a nearby pavement.
Council officials traced the car and went to his girlfriend’s address, at which point he confessed he had been driving that day.
Marshall pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates’ Court to illegally dumping waste on land at Eliza Ann Street.
He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £386 and a £20 victim surcharge yesterday.
The court also banned him from the wheel for six months for driving without a licence or insurance.
Caught fly-tipping on camera: Philip Marshall, 46, of Eccles, Greater Manchester, had intended to clean his then-girlfriend’s new home of ‘bits and bobs’ as a surprise while she was away
The court heard that the pair are no longer together.
On the day of the offence in April, Marshall was seen to drive up and illegally dump a large cardboard box, a set of step ladders, a Venetian blind and other waste on the pavement around 10.30am.
When traced and asked if he had dumped the waste, he replied: ‘Unfortunately I did.’
He said he had been moving ‘bits and bobs’ all week into the bins as his girlfriend had moved into a new home – and because the bins were quite full, he didn’t know where to put the box.
Marshall used his girlfriend’s car without her knowing – and without a driving licence – and then left waste, including a large cardboard box and a Venetian blind, on a nearby pavement. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and banned from driving for six months
When asked why he hadn’t taken it and the other items to the tip, he replied: ‘I don’t know. I just decided to drive around the corner and find a layby and just take it out of the car but I realise now it was stupid of me. I thought I was doing her a favour moving the stuff.
‘It shouldn’t have happened and I can’t apologise enough.’
Speaking after the court case, Councillor David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said: ‘This is the first time I’ve seen the courts hand down a driving ban for fly-tipping. I very much welcome that and I hope we see more.
‘Mr Marshall is quite right when he says it shouldn’t have happened. There is no reason and no excuse for dumping rubbish in the streets of Salford, creating a nuisance for residents and businesses and wasting public money on cleaning it up.
‘We are very grateful to the business for reporting this and I’d urge anyone who has evidence that would help us trace and prosecute fly-tippers to contact us.’
The council receives more than 280 reports of illegal fly-tipping every month and spends approximately £140,000 every year dealing with the problem.
This prosecution is part of the ongoing Operation Pandora, set up four years ago to tackle fly-tipping.
Forty-seven people have been prosecuted for more than 58 offences – some committed more than one offence – resulting in fines and costs of £48,865.