Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court heard on 7 June how Patrick Stokes, 48, dropped commercial waste at the West London site on seven occasions between 17 March 2021 and 17 January 2022, the council says, “as if it were personal household waste”.
The court was told that, given the “high frequency” of Mr Stokes’s visits to the site and the volumes of waste deposited, council officers deemed his use commercial rather than private and therefore subject to fees.
The council said it banned Mr Stokes from the site, given “he had already made off without paying on several prior occasions.”
However, the court heard this ban was “ignored” three times, with Mr Stokes “failing to leave the site when asked”.
In mitigation, the court was told Mr Stokes was unemployed and in receipt of Universal Credit. He was paid to collect the waste from traveller sites at £20 per visit.
Mr Stokes admitted seven counts of “making off without paying” and three counts of entering the site when banned from doing so, the council says.
Alongside the 14-week sentence, he was ordered to pay £5,000 compensation to Hillingdon council to cover the costs of clearing up and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
‘Appalling’
According to the council, District Judge Wright, sentencing, called Mr Stokes’s behaviour “appalling”. He added: “I find this extremely serious, so serious in fact that it crosses the custody threshold.
You cannot expect the local authority to clear up all this mess
– District Judge Wright
“You have a profound sense of entitlement. You cannot expect the local authority to clear up all this mess.
“I simply do not believe this is your rubbish. You cannot dump this amount of rubbish unless you’re doing something commercially.”
Hillingdon
Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon council’s cabinet member for residents’ services, said he was “delighted” with the sentence, which would “serve as a warning to anyone who thinks they’re above the rules.”
“We’re grateful to the many commercial visitors to our sites who diligently pay the fees and are respectful to staff,” Cllr Lavery said.
“They hugely outweigh the few who try and buck the system. The costs will contribute to recovering taxpayer money spent clearing up Patrick Stokes’s mess.”
Representing an estimated population of more than 304,000, Hillingdon council had a household waste recycling rate of 37.3% in the 2020/21 financial year, the most recent available data.
Subscribe for free