Fly tipping fine for Heywood woman after she discarded mattress

The mattress and other waste was found in Heywood

An unwanted mattress has brought nightmares for one Heywood resident after it was found discarded in the street, resulting in a court appearance for the owner.

Chelsea Locklin of South Street appeared at Manchester & Salford Magistrates’ Court on Friday 12 January, where she pleaded guilty to one offence contrary to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 after admitting to dumping the mattress, a cardboard box and several black bags of waste on the pavement to the rear of her property.

Ms Locklin had previously admitted to the offence and had been offered a Fixed Penalty Notice that would have discharged her of any further liability. However, she failed to pay and refused to meet with council officers again to discuss additional information received about the fly-tipping.

She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay a total of £100 in costs and victim surcharge.

Councillor Liam O’Rourke, the council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment, said: “We offer residents the opportunity to have large bulky items collected for free, but there are conditions to making a booking.

“Items should not be left out before a booking is made and should only be left out by 7am on the day of collection, or the day before at the earliest. Doing this will help keep the items dry for recycling and mitigate the chance of it being reported as fly-tipping if left out for a longer period.

“Adding extra waste or items that have not been booked or accepted is not permitted and would be classed as fly-tipping. We all have a duty of care to dispose of our waste responsibly.”

Bulky waste collections can be booked at rochdale.gov.uk/bulkywaste up to 3 weeks in advance.

Residents can report fly-tipping at rochdale.gov.uk/flytipping or by calling 0300 303 8884.