An Oxford man has been ordered to pay nearly £1,500 by Oxford Magistrates Court after illegally fly-tipping black bags containing sheep heads amongst food waste in a Wootton lay by.
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Mr Qasim Ali, 30, who is the manager of the Oxford Food Centre in Headington, claimed that he dumped the bags containing the sheep heads on Tuesday 26 June 2012 because ‘the devil had got inside of him’.
He was fined £750 for the fly tip, £500 towards costs, £200 clear up costs and a £ 15 victim surcharge.
Colin Marshall, Environmental Warden for Vale of White Horse District Council, received information of the fly tip and went to investigate. His investigation involved interviewing Mr Ali, and the driver of the vehicle to find out what really happened.
During the investigation Mr Ali explained the incident occurred because he noticed a smell in the back of the company refrigerated van which one of his employees was driving. He then asked the driver to pull over so he could investigate; he found five bags of food waste, including sheep heads so he took them out and placed them in a lay by in Besselsleigh Road, of the A420 at Bessels Leigh.
The driver of the vehicle said he was unaware that Mr Ali was dumping the food waste and thought he was moving ‘wood and books’ in the back of the van.
Mr Marshall made arrangements with council’s waste contractors Biffa to clear up the area immediately as the contents of the waste were a health risk to the public.
Cllr Roger Cox, cabinet member for Health & Housing at the Vale of White Horse, said: “We are cracking down on all cases of fly-tipping and this particular case was a potential harm to the public. We want to show that we are not taking fly-tipping lightly and will be coming down hard on those who choose to do this.”
Mr Ali said he was ‘deeply sorry’ for what he had done and realised what he did was wrong.
