Council reveals the 10 weirdest excuses people have given for fly-tipping

A list of the top 10 bizarre excuses people have given after being caught fly-tipping has been released by Buckinghamshire County Council.

Reasons for the illegal dumping of waste range from not being liked by staff at the tip to lending a van to a man who was possibly named Jim.

Members of a waste partnership in Buckinghamshire have published the list as part of ‘zero tolerance’ campaign and hope the catalogue of confessions will help prevent further offences.

Mike Smith, chairman of the Joint Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: “The excuses range from the banal to bonkers and the bottom line is there is no excuse for fly-tipping.

“Fly-tipping is a hazard, it’s anti-social and an eyesore.

“While initially appearing humorous, this is actually no laughing matter because fly-tipping has blighted our beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside over many years.

“The extraordinary arrogance of those who dump rubbish in our roads, parks and country lanes is sickening and we will do everything in our power to prevent it.”

Since 2003, the partnership, which comprises of all the local authorities in the county, has secured more than 500 convictions, saving an estimated £2million.

So, here is the definitive list of the top 10 excuses for fly-tipping in Buckinghamshire:

• I know the person who works on the tip and they don’t like me, so when I saw them working, I drove on
• I sold my vehicle to some people who were quite intimidating actually
• It was my van, but I had lent it to this other man who is now not answering my calls… I think his name is Jim
• I saw other fly-tipped waste and thought the area was a recycling centre
• The waste fell off the back of my vehicle as I drove along
• I didn’t dump it – I was there, but I only stopped to do a wee
• My van was untidy and I needed to give my boss a lift so I cleared the rubbish out because I know he doesn’t like the van untidy
• I dropped my phone and there was so much rubbish in the car that I could hardly find it – I cleared the rubbish out so I could find the phone
• I met a man at the ‘dump’ who said he wanted it – can’t think why he then dumped it rather than taking it back to the dump
• I paid a man with a van to take it