Ashton woman fined for dumping rubbish beside street bin

An Ashton woman has been left with a court bill of nearly £500 after a bag of her household waste was found dumped beside a litter bin on her street.

Jolene Bamber, of Nook Lane, appeared before Tameside Magistrates’ Court on 29 August 2025, where she pleaded guilty to failing in her duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The court heard that on 15 February 2025, a Tameside Council street cleaner discovered a black bag of household waste abandoned next to a public litter bin on Nook Lane. An investigation was launched, and the rubbish was traced back to Ms Bamber’s address.

Although she was given the opportunity to settle the matter with a Fixed Penalty Notice, Ms Bamber failed to respond to any of the council's correspondence.

In court, she admitted the waste originated from her property, but insisted she had not dumped it herself. However, she accepted that she had not taken appropriate steps to ensure her rubbish was disposed of by an authorised person.

Magistrates fined her £40 and ordered her to pay £455 in clean-up and prosecution costs — bringing the total penalty to £495.

Following the verdict, Tameside Council’s Executive Member for Environmental Services and Neighbourhoods, Councillor Laura Boyle, condemned the offence: “Just because waste is left next to a litter bin doesn’t make it acceptable - it is still dumping waste irresponsibly in the street, blighting the neighbourhood and incurring clean-up costs on the local community.

“Fly tipping is quite rightly of great concern to local residents, the vast majority of whom take pride in their local areas and dispose of their waste responsibly. We will always take action when we find evidence of who is responsible for illegally dumped waste.”