THE boss of a York house clearance firm has been left with a £1,200 hole in his pocket, after admitting that he failed to stop waste being dumped illegally.

Dave Hughes, owner of Dave Dee Removals, in Piccadilly, York, admitted breaching his duty of care for waste when clearing a house in Hull Road.

He said he had allowed a neighbour to take some of the contents away for use at a car boot sale, and had also left sacks of refuse in the garden for a period of four days.

But during this time some of it was taken and fly-tipped in a field off Holtby Lane. Council officers said it cost £500 to remove.

Magistrates, who told Hughes that as a registered waste carrier he should have known better, fined him £500 and ordered him to pay £700 costs.

After the case Hughes told the Evening Press that another person had dumped the rubbish left in the garden of a home in Tuke Avenue he was clearing.

He said when workers returned after the weekend to collect the bags, which contained crockery, cooking utensils and bags of clothes, they had disappeared.

He said: "Someone else sorted through it and chucked it all in a field and I got blamed and fined for it. I don't chuck stuff about. I'm the kind of person who will pick up litter in the street."

In a separate fly-tipping incident, Malcolm Wilson of Acomb, York, admitted he dumped household sacks and furniture in an Upper Poppleton lay-by.

He was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £200.

Jackie Armitage, City of York Council's street environment manager, said: "We are pleased that the courts saw it appropriate to issue serious penalties for these cases, as they were the first to be presented by the authority for waste-related offences.

"The street environment service will continue to monitor fly-tipping hot spots and take a zero tolerance approach against those who commit this unnecessary environmental crime.

"We wish to work with residents and businesses to educate and encourage responsible waste management in the spirit of York Pride, but warn those who ignore our advice that action will be taken. Everyone wants a cleaner, safer city."

In the aftermath of the prosecutions, council officers warned residents about the dangers of paying for the services of people who call at their home offering to take rubbish away.

Updated: 10:55 Friday, December 03, 2004