“Fly-tip in Kirklees, and we will crush your vehicle”, that is the message that Kirklees Council is sending out to fly-tippers with the release of a new video showing a Mercedes van being torn apart and scrapped.

The vehicle was seized as part of the prosecution of Mohammed Eesaa Zaman, a Director of Huddersfield based Bedworld Ltd. Zaman, and an employee of the company both pleaded guilty at Huddersfield Magistrates Court to a charge of fly-tipping. That led to a destruction order being granted and the subsequent crushing of the van, which was valued at £8,000 at the time of seizure.

The court case heard how Zaman was seen supervising the loading of the waste into the Mercedes at a property in Walker Street, Earlsheaton. He was then seen supervising the off-loading of it when it was fly tipped in Dewsbury later the same day.

Kirklees Council’s Parks Department cleared and disposed of the fly-tipped waste, consisting of household furniture, white goods, builders waste and other household waste using an excavator, council vehicles and trailers at a cost of £2,585.

Councillor Naheed Mather, Cabinet Member for the Environment said:

“This is possibly the clearest message we can send to fly-tippers who think they can use Kirklees as their personal dumping ground and who believe they are above the law. We will not tolerate this criminal and anti-social behaviour, what is more, most Kirklees residents will not either. The successful outcome of this court case was aided by photographic evidence provided by residents who also gave witness statements about the guilty parties. On behalf of the Council and the other residents of Kirklees, I would like to thank them for their support. It just goes to show that together we can keep Kirklees cleaner and greener.”

As well as the loss of the van, Zaman was fined a total of £4,753, which included the clean-up costs. The employee who drove the van was fined £300 for his part.