Builder sentenced to unpaid work after waste was dumped
A builder has been sentenced to community service after waste from two properties under renovation was found dumped.
In a report from South Kesteven District Council, Boston Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday (November 17) how investigators from the council sifted the dumped rubbish and found correspondence sent to two addresses in Grantham.
Neil Sands, prosecuting on behalf of SKDC, said Raitis Uzuls, trading as Bruce the Builder, had removed the waste from both properties where work was being carried out.
SKDC said that Uzuls, 36, of The Dovecote, Rippingale, near Sleaford, did not hold an environmental permit, and pleaded guilty to depositing several black bin bags of building renovation waste on land at Huntingtower Road, Grantham.
He also admitted failing in a duty of care to ensure another individual had properly disposed of waste, including mattresses, they added.
Mr Sands said while unloading waste at the home of co-accused Martins Svitins on Harlaxton Road, Grantham, Uzuls claimed to have been approached by two men in a Ford tipper truck.
He claimed they accepted their offer of disposing of the waste for him and handed them £150 cash, said Mr Sands.
He had not sought their names, vehicle registration or asked for their credentials or certifications to process the waste, which was later found dumped in the area of Wyville Road, Grantham.
According to SKDC,Beris Brickles, defending Uzuls, said: “When my client is on building jobs he usually has skips available. Unfortunately, at this time he did not have skips available.”
He said his client had accepted the offer of removing the waste and that the bin bags were offloaded near the home of Svitins and forgotten about in the dark.
Uzuls was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work. He was told to pay £746 towards SKDC’s clear-up, investigation and prosecution costs and court surcharges.
A month before the fly-tipping incidents, Uzuls had been sentenced to six months custody, suspended for a year, for grievous bodily harm without intent, said SKDC.
He admitted breaching the terms of that suspended sentence by re-offending and had three months added to the length of the suspended term.
Svitins was charged with failing to respond to requests for information contrary to the Environment Act 1995. He was sentenced in his absence to a £440 fine, with £872 costs and a £176 surcharge.