Fly-tippers ‘are getting away with it’ – Town shop owner
FLY-TIPPING in Fountain Street needs to be addressed, one shop owner has said, after suffering with the problem for 18 months.
Vaughan Davies, of Vinyl Vaughan’s Record Boutique, was greeted yesterday by a pile of cardboard outside his store when he went to open up.
Last week it was black sacks and earlier this month it was carrier bags full of items such as broken eggs.
The problem, he said, has been ongoing since he opened the record shop and he feared it would get worse when the new rubbish collection system begins in September.
‘I have been talking with the police and the constables,’ he said.
‘It always seems to be around Fountain Street. It is an ongoing thing and people shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.’
He said things fly-tipped in the shop’s doorway not only looked unpleasant but it also caused him and his wife a great deal of inconvenience.
‘We do take some stuff home, but we shouldn’t have to,’ he added.
The constables office yesterday arranged for States Works to pick up the items dumped in the doorway.
Previously, the parish had worked out who had dumped cardboard at the shop because they left their address on the packaging.
However, there were no addresses left on this cardboard.
Mr Davies hoped the police would be able to locate some CCTV images that would identify the culprit/s.
St Peter Port constable Dennis Le Moignan said fly-tipping was a problem all over Town.
‘It’s one of those nightmare situations,’ he said.
‘It is very difficult for us because, unless we catch the people putting it out, there isn’t much that can be done.
‘If you catch them doing it, you can prosecute.’
He believed the new waste laws, coming into force when the new waste charges are introduced in January, would give parishes more power to investigate.
‘Currently, if there is rubbish in the bag, then you can’t rummage through [to see if there is any evidence of whose rubbish it is].
‘Under the new law we will be able to do that.’
He said that those who fly-tipped now, or were planning to do so when the new charges come in, would not be able to get away with it.
