A council has cracked a fly-tipping case that it calls “one of the most complex investigations” it has ever carried out.

The painstaking work took more than five months and sent officials on a trail 20 miles away. Four separate people had to be interviewed under caution.

Ashford Borough Council (ABC) pieced together how a tipper-load-sized mound of household and builder’s waste ended up dumped in a remote part of rural Aldington.

The drawn-out process has involved multiple interviews, with the Environmental Enforcement Team trying to get to the bottom of claims and counter-claims made by different people.

Their detective work paid off, with a £600 Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) issued to a man from Dover. The sum has been paid.

The large fly-tip was reported to the council in September by a landowner in Aldington.

They initially found some invoices addressed to a building firm and during a visit to the site, council officers found letters addressed to individuals in Dover.

An interview under caution was conducted with the owner of the building firm, who insisted she didn’t recognise the waste but said she had been working at a property in High Street, Dover. A letter addressed to this same house was found in the fly-tip.

The builder said she usually used a well-known Kent waste disposal firm to dispose of waste on site but for this job, the property owner said he’d arrange disposal of the waste himself.

An interview under caution was then conducted with the owner of the High Street property.

He said he didn’t recognise the waste but confirmed he had building work ongoing at the property. He insisted that he had arranged clearance of the waste with a local licensed waste carrier and provided the council with relevant documentation.

The owner said he had not been in the property during the work so didn’t know what was removed.

An interview under caution was conducted with the waste carrier identified by the property owner and he confirmed he collected waste from the High Street property twice.

He provided relevant documentation for the waste that was collected. The waste carrier said he did not recognise the waste dumped at Aldington.

The investigation took a twist when the team tracked down the previous tenant of the High Street property in Dover.

Interviewed under caution, she recognised most of the fly-tipped waste and said it had come from the High Street property.

She had run a restaurant and takeaway business from the building before ending her tenancy in May 2024, leaving all contents within the building.

She provided signed agreements between her and the landlord and provided council officers with a statement relating to the fly-tipped waste and where it originated from.

Armed with this new information, the Environmental Enforcement Team conducted a second interview under caution with the owner of the High Street property.

He was told that his previous tenant confirmed the waste was from his property.

He again denied recognising the fly-tipped waste, and insisted he wasn’t there when it was removed so couldn’t say if it came from his property.

The team concluded that the owner had used someone else to remove the previous tenant’s waste from the building and fly-tipped it in Aldington.

A £600 Fixed Penalty Notice was issued for failing in his duty of care to ensure that any transfer of waste was only to an authorised person for transport, contrary to section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

A spokesman for Ashford’s Environmental Enforcement Team said: “The man failed to provide an explanation how waste from his property ended up fly-tipped. The FPN has been paid.

“This has been one of the most complex investigations ever carried out by our tenacious Environmental Enforcement Team. It has meticulously followed the leads and succeeded in piecing together the chain of events which led to this fly-tip in a beautiful part of the Kent countryside.”

Households and businesses have a legal duty of care when it comes to what happens to their waste and are warned to watch out for rogue waste carriers.

ABC says fly-tippers often target households via social media or local advertising, luring customers in with cheap rates to dispose of unwanted furniture, building rubble or garden waste.

But these unlicensed waste carriers often simply dump the waste wherever they can get away with it including country lanes.

Householders or small businesses found to be using rogue traders to dispose of their waste can be prosecuted by Ashford council, with FPNs of up to £600 per offence. Failure to pay may result in court action.

If using a commercial service, you should check whether someone is licensed to carry waste by calling the Environment Agency on 03708 506506 or visiting its website.

It also helps if householders receive a written receipt or transfer note, including contact details, a description of the waste removed and details of where it is being taken.