Flytipping victim told he could be held responsible

A TEESDALE solicitor was told HE could be held responsible for the actions of flytippers who dumped a load of old carpets in a skip outside his Barnard Castle office.
Michael McGarry ordered the skip so he could take away rubbish from renovations being carried out at his office in Galgate.
With the work complete and the skip filled level with the top, Mr McGarry and his staff returned to work the following day to find someone had piled a load of old carpets and underlay on top.
With the skip now overflowing, some of the extra rubbish had started blowing out in the fresh breeze.
However, when Mr McGarry reported the incident to Durham County Council, he was told he could be held responsible for any rubbish blown out of the skip and not retrieved. He explained: “We got the skip on the Thursday as we were having an old kitchen taken out along with some broken up desks, bits of carpets and other things.
“We came in over the weekend and took out the remaining bits and bobs. The skip was pretty much level when we left on the Sunday afternoon at about 4pm.”
He added: “We came in on the Monday morning and there was another two feet of old carpet and underlay. Some of it had blown all over the place.
“I reported it to the police and was told it was not their business. I rang Durham County Council and there was nothing they were going to do about it.”
It was then that Mr McGarry was told he would be responsible for any of the rubbish littering the streets.
Ian Hoult, Durham County Council’s neighbourhood protection manager, said the authority was sorry to hear of the problems Mr McGarry had with unauthorised use of his skip.
But he added: “Any company or individual which hires a skip for private use is responsible for any waste placed inside it, and therefore anything that is removed from it and left on the road could be classed as fly-tipping.
“The information regarding carpets being placed in the skip was logged on our systems by customer services, but as little information was given at the time, it did not come through to the relevant service to consider whether it was a fly-tipping issue.
“If more details were provided regarding who had disposed of the carpet, we may be able to look into the issue further.”