A MAN man must pay more than £800 after cardboard boxes were dumped in a village.

Ian Maitland was prosecuted after failing to provide information to Durham County Council investigators examining flytipping in the Easington area on September 12 last year.

The 38-year-old failed to attend Peterlee Magistrates’ Court but was found guilty in his absence of an offence under the Environment Act.

Maitland, of Barnard Avenue in Ludworth, near Durham, was fined £440, with £329.83 costs and £44 victim surcharge.

Neighbourhood protection manager Ian Hoult said: “We are committed to reducing the amount of fly-tipping across County Durham and we will use any means available to us to get the right information so that we can prosecute those responsible.

“As well as fly-tippers themselves we will target those who fail to provide the information we ask for as our Operation Stop It continues to crackdown on the environmental crimes that blight our communities.

The Petwell Lane area of Easington is an area of council-owned land regularly targeted by fly tippers.

A blue Transit van was caught being used to dump cardboard boxes and other waste on CCTV on the day in question. The registered keeper told investigators he was not using it that day but believed it was being driven by Maitland.

Council officers visited his home twice in October and a calling card was left requesting he contact them. A letter was also sent requesting he attend an interview.

He also failed to respond to a notice requiring him to confirm whether or not he was the owner of the vehicle in question or in the Petwell Lane area on the date of the fly tipping offence.