A FLYTIPPER was caught red-handed... by the eagle-eyed leader of Basildon Council.

Gavin Callaghan witnessed a driver dump the rubbish into the communal bin area on Felmores Estate, in Bockingham Green.

Mr Callaghan was walking through the estate on Sunday afternoon when he happened upon the dumping.

The rubbish consisted mainly of chipboard, which was dumped into the large bins, which are supposed to be for black sack general waste.

The leader of the council was outraged at the incident, and subsequently noted the number plate of the car.

This was then passed on to police and officers at the council.

Gavin Callaghan posted on social media to warn others about being so brazen in the future.

He said: “I’ve seen exactly what the problem is.

“These communal bins are for the residents.

“I’ve taken the registration number of the car involved.

“They will be getting fined.

“It’s illegal and unacceptable.

“It’s also massively unfair on Felmores residents who live here and have had their bins filled with chipboard.

“There cannot keep being people who are not playing by the rules.

“The council is clamping down on it.”

Mr Callaghan also suggested that CCTV should be installed to catch future flytippers.

Residents were pleased that a culprit had been caught in the act, but called for more to be done to stop others doing exactly the same.

One said it is too easy for someone else to dump rubbish at the communal bin area.

Another resident added: “You need to secure it with a lock system and issue keys to residents only.”

Several who live nearby spoke of how CCTV will not change people’s habits. She added: “The reality is that people are lazy.

“He could have taken that wood to the Wat Tyler recycling centre in Pitsea or to the Barleylands recycling

centre.

“Maybe there is a way to increase the fines? This will stop people being lazy and

stupid.”

In the upcoming weeks, enforcement officers will be wandering the streets of the borough to crack down on flytippers.

These officers will have the power to issue on-the-spot fines to those who are seen flytipping.

The five officers will begin their work next Monday, February 3.

This scheme comes after Basildon Council entered into a trial with National Enforcement Solutions.

Figures show that council officers removed 3,665 incidences of flytipping from 2018 to 2019, which is down from 4,620 removals the previous year.