A Dryslwyn woman has been ordered to pay over £600 after failing to check that the person she paid to take waste from her home was properly licensed.

Hannah Kay Disley, of Llys Carys, pleaded guilty at Llanelli Magistrates Court to an offence under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act.

The prosecution was brought by Carmarthenshire County Council.

The court heard that in October last year, council enforcement officers were responding to a complaint of fly-tipping on a patch of land near a minor road leading from Llanfynydd to Abergorlech.

There they found a large pile of waste including blue recycling bags which contained general household waste, a garden strimmer, a wicker chair and a bed base.

They also found documents addressed to Miss Disley, which led to them calling at her home.

Under caution she stated that she had been in contact with someone unknown to her via Facebook and as a result a male driving a grey van turned up at her property to remove the waste.

Later, during a formal taped interview, she told officers that what she’d said previously was untrue, and that two men she didn’t know, driving a large dark coloured van, had knocked at her door late in the evening asking if she had anything to take away and had paid them £5 to take some refuse bags of household waste away.

She didn’t ask them if they were registered waste carriers, stating in court that she hadn’t done so because she felt intimidated.

She admitted that the bags of waste found near Llanfynydd were hers, but denied knowledge of the other fly-tipped items.

Magistrates fined her £120, and ordered her to pay costs of £466.15 and a £30 victim surcharge.

Anyone who pays someone to dispose of waste on their behalf is responsible in law for carrying out the necessary checks to ensure the person has a valid waste carriers licence.

Cllr Philip Hughes, executive board member for environmental enforcement, said: “As this case demonstrates, quite often there are people out there happy to take your money and then fly-tip your rubbish. Unfortunately, this has repercussions not only on the environment but on the person who was getting rid of that waste. It’s vitally important to make the necessary checks.”