She's rubbish at flytipping lark! ORDER TO TIDY UP GARDEN LEFT IN DUMPED SACKS

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), June 22, 2009

Byline: ROB KENNEDY

A DUMB rubbish dumper was nailed after she flytipped a letter ordering her to tidy up her garden.

Theresa Heslop had been written to by her local council after complaints about rubbish scattered around her garden.

But she screwed up the letters, threw them in a bin bag and dumped them at a spot two miles from her home.

They were found flytipped along with sacks containing soiled nappies, beer cans, burnt pieces of an old garden shed and household waste.

Council officials easily traced the rubbish back to Heslop because of the letters and she was prosecuted.

Coun Barrie Scorer, lead member for environment and transport, said: "South Tyneside Council spends pounds 2.4m per year keeping the borough clean and tidy and actions such as this will not be tolerated.

"I'd urge anyone who sees waste being dumped or has a problem with abandoned waste to call the council.

"We will act quickly to clean up the streets and take the people responsible for the mess to court." Heslop, 40, of St Cuthbert's Avenue, Horsley Hill, South

Shields, was fined pounds 400 plus pounds 85 costs after the sacks of waste from her home were found on a nearby estate.

South Tyneside magistrates were told that the rubbish had been dumped two miles from her own home in the front garden of an empty property in Hazel Grove, Cleadon Park.

Officers from the council's Streetscene team were called out and the culprit soon became apparent when they discovered the letters.

One of these was from South Tyneside Homes instructing her to tidy her garden of the rubbish that was there.

Checks made with South Tyneside Homes confirmed that Ms Heslop had recently been sent a "garden tidy" letter. Council enforcement officers gave Ms Heslop three opportunities to explain how waste believed to be from her property was found abandoned in Hazel Grove. However, she failed to attend two interviews or call to make a final appointment to explain the circumstances.

Heslop did not attend court either but the case was heard in her absence and she was found guilty of an offence under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Anyone who wants to report flytipping in South Tyneside can do so by calling the council's customer contact centre on ( 0191) 427 7000 or e- mail customerhelp@ s o u t h t y n e s i d e . g o v. u k