While Britney Spears was inside singing about being a slave for you and how much she loves rock and roll, outside of the concert hall, Newcastle based Mark Alexander was busy dumping an array of waste objects.
Mr Alexander dumped the rubbish, which included containers, refuse bags, crockery and bags full of waste, outside the Metro Radio Arena in November 2011. However, a security guard witnessed what Mr Alexander was doing, and further inquiries led to the vehicle he was using being traced back to him.
He pleaded guilty at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court to two counts of dumping waste without an environmental permit – one outside of the concert hall in November 2011 and another at Stepney Road in Newcastle on 23 June 2012.
In the second incident, Alexander was caught dumping on a road which leads to the Ouseburn Valley regeneration area of the city, as well as in a skip hired by a local business. Alexander was traced and interviewed by officers from Newcastle City Council on August 17 last year but he gave no reply to questions about the fly-tipping.
Nick Peacock, mitigating, told the court that when Alexander was made aware what he had done was an offence, he organised for it to be cleaned up in June last year at a personal cost of £250.
Chair of the bench, Carol Molloy, said, "For the two deliberate acts of fly-tipping, for the offence on November 3, 2011, we fine you £1,500 which has been reduced to £1,000 because of your guilty plea. For the offence on June 23, 2012, we charge a fine of £1,500 reduced to £1,000 for your guilty plea, and because you paid £250 for the clean-up, that has been reduced to £750 which gives a total of £1,750."
Coupled with the fines, Alexander was made to pay £40 in compensation, £500 for officer costs, £55 for legal costs and a £15 victim surcharge. In total he was made to pay £2,360, which the court heard he would pay at £40 a month.
For more information, see the:
