TWO men have been fined thousands after illegally collecting waste without a licence.

William Anderson of Tilbury was summonsed to Southend Magistrates Court on Tuesday and was found guilty of collecting waste without a Waste Carriers Licence.

Mr Anderson had been stopped as part of a joint operation between Essex Police and Basildon Council.

Mr Anderson was issued with a fine for not producing a waste carriers licence at the road side. He did not attend his court hearing.

Magistrates ordered Mr Anderson to pay a £1,000 fine, costs of £405, and a victim surcharge of £100—bringing the total to £1,505.

In a separate case, Sidney Gasa, of Grays, appeared before Southend Magistrates Court on the same day for transferring household waste to an unauthorised waste carrier.

Mr Gasa stated that he had paid £100 for his waste to be removed, and assumed the waste collectors were legally licensed because they had operated in the neighbourhood for years and some of his neighbours had used the same waste collectors.

However, it was explained to Mr Gasa that legislation places a duty of care on individuals to ensure that they check any person disposing of waste is authorised to do so, which Mr Gasa had failed to do.

Mr Gasa pleaded guilty. The Magistrates sentenced Mr Gasa, and ordered him to pay £912—consisting of a £160 fine, victim surcharge of £32, costs of £360, and compensation of £360 towards the council’s costs of clearing up the flytipped waste.