A BUNGLING fly-tipper whose getaway vehicle got stuck in mud as he and an accomplice tried to flee will need to pay £1,300.

Dean Paul Smith and another man were caught chucking hazardous waste in an area off Mill Road in Abingdon on February 6 by a member of the public who called the police.

When officers arrived, they found Smith and the man trying to shift a van which had got stuck in mud as they attempted to leave the site.

The duo claimed they stopped there to eat lunch and that once the vehicle had got stuck, they decided to throw waste from it to make it easier to push free.

Police officers asked the men to clear up their rubbish but asbestos was left behind. Vale of White Horse District Council officers were then asked to investigate.

Smith, who was the passenger in the van, was given a fixed penalty notice of £400.

He failed to pay that money and name the driver of the vehicle so the council took Smith, of Blackthorn Road, Didcot, to court.

At Oxford Magistrates’ Court on September 19, Smith, who is 36, was fined a further £270 for dumping the waste and £100 for failing to inform the council who the van’s driver was. He was also ordered to pay a £30 victim surcharge and £500 prosecution costs.

Councillor Elaine Ware, Cabinet Member for Environmental Health at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Whatever the circumstances involved fly-tipping is always a real blight on society. 

"It costs thousands in public money to clean up and investigate, and is potentially dangerous, especially if, like in this case, it is hazardous waste such as asbestos.”