Peterborough magistrates asked to give fly-tippers £50,000 fines

Cllr Elsey said: “It would only take one person to be fined that much for it to stop.

“I’ve got no sympathy if the fly-tipper loses their house over it.

“I’m sorry but you should not be fly-tipping.”

This is not the first time Cllr Elsey has called for steep fines for fly-tippers, but now he is trying to meet with the chief magistrate in Peterborough.

The purpose of the meeting, he said, would be to “get them to take it more seriously.”

The Conservative councillor for Orton Waterville said he is waiting to hear back from the court.

Fly-tipping costs the council £250,000 a year to clear up but the fines for those convicted tend to be hundreds of pounds rather than thousands.

The number of reported fly-tipping incidents in Peterborough in 2015 was 9,303. In one incident, £6,000 was spent prosecuting someone, but because he was unemployed the court did not to issue a fine.