A Stevenage man’s company has been fined nearly £3,000 for fly-tipping rubbish in Graveley.

Jason Anthony Gilbert’s firm, JAG Building Solutions Ltd, was found guilty at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court last week of dumping tree stumps and fence posts in a field off Church Lane in April last year.

The crime was reported by a member of the public who saw two men dumping the materials in the field with a van registered to the Bedford-based company.

They saw the vehicle’s white tipping truck raise its flat bed and dump the materials before returning it to the transit position and driving off.

They then reported this to North Herts District Council’s environmental crime officers, who investigated and prosecuted the company.

The Bedford-based firm’s director Gilbert, of Jackdaw Close in Stevenage, had pleaded not guilty to the offence at the court last Thursday but magistrates disagreed and fined him £1,000.

The 40-year-old’s firm was also ordered to pay the council’s costs of £1,892.63 and a victim surcharge of £100, making a total of £2,992.63.

Councillor Bernard Lovewell, who is responsible for environmental health at the council, said: “We hope that this case serves as a deterrent to anyone who fly-tips controlled waste in our countryside. Last year fly-tipping cost taxpayers over £37,500 which, especially in the current financial climate, is money that would be better spent elsewhere.

“The council takes fly-tipping extremely seriously and we are very pleased with the outcome of the court case.”