Guide
Who pays the fine if your rubbish gets fly-tipped?
Short version: it can be you, even though someone else did the dumping. Here is how the duty of care actually works.
You hire a man with a van. He takes your old sofa and a few bags of garage clutter for forty quid. A week later the council finds it in a gateway off the B1135, with a letter inside bearing your address.
Who gets the fine? You might, and here is why.
The duty of care is on you
Under the Environmental Protection Act, anyone who produces household waste has a duty to make sure it is only handed to an authorised person — a registered waste carrier. If you cannot show you checked, you can be held responsible for what happens to it afterwards.
How to not be that person
Ask for the carrier registration number and check it on the Environment Agency public register. It takes a minute and it is free. Read the name it comes back in, too — a number that is perfectly valid but registered to somebody else is the oldest trick in this trade. And if they will not give you a number at all, that is your answer.
Every load we take comes with a waste transfer note, and our registration number is yours the moment you ask for it.
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