Bromley Council seized Ford Transit tippers in Barnfield Road, St Mary Cray, and Old Maidstone Road this week. Its six-month tally is now nine seized and eleven crushed.

Bromley Council has seized two more tipper trucks it suspects of being used for fly-tipping. The council said on 7 October that both were Ford Transit tippers, taken in separate investigations this week: one in Old Maidstone Road, near Sidcup, and the other in Barnfield Road, St Mary Cray.

That takes the council’s count for the last six months to nine vehicles seized and eleven crushed. When we reported the last seizure at the end of August, the figures were seven seized and eleven crushed.

St Mary Cray is about five miles east of Bromley town centre. The council gives the other location as Old Maidstone Road, Sidcup, at the borough’s north-eastern edge.

What happens to the trucks

Both vehicles were seized under sections 33, 34 and 34B of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the council says. Those sections cover illegal depositing of waste and breaches of the waste duty of care.

The owners can claim the trucks back by producing the relevant documentation. If they do not, the council says the vehicles “could be crushed or otherwise disposed of”. Investigations are continuing.

A council spokesperson said tipper trucks “can be used to generate large profits by being used to dispose of large volumes of waste”, and that “fly-tipping is not a victimless crime. It damages the environment, creates hazards on roads and country lanes, and blights local communities.”

What it means for you

The council’s warning is aimed at residents as much as at the tippers. If you pay someone to take rubbish away and it is dumped, the fine can land on you. The waste carrier checks are in our August report.

  • Check the carrier is registered before handing over waste. The council asks residents to make sure “anyone they pay to remove waste is a registered waste carrier”.
  • Report fly-tipping through the council website. The council offers rewards of up to £500 for information that leads to a prosecution.
  • Use the tips. Bulky items can go to the Churchfields Road Reuse and Recycling Centre, the weekend centre on Baths Road, or be collected by the council by appointment. Hours and the Waldo Road reopening date are on our tip opening times page.
  • Businesses have their own legal duty of care when arranging waste disposal, and the council says they must be able to show they met it.

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