Man faces severe penalties for brazen crimes along public roads: 'A blight'

British authorities announced that they arrested a 56-year-old man in connection with large-scale waste-dumping incidents across the counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, and Merseyside after discovering illegal trash deposits in roadsides.

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime joined forces with Lancashire Police and the National Crime Agency in December to apprehend the suspect and seize the vehicle allegedly used during the offenses.

This practice, known as fly-tipping in the U.K., involves illegally dumping waste on public or private land instead of properly disposing of it through the appropriate channels. These criminal acts force landowners to shoulder the disposal costs, and they contaminate areas where native species live.

"The criminals involved in these offences are a blight on our rural communities," said Sergeant Darren Carr of the Lancashire Police South Rural Taskforce.

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime has led 361 multi-agency operations, resulting in 186 arrests as of September. The unit recently doubled in size to enhance its capacity to shut down serious waste criminals who cause the most severe harm to environments and communities.

"The results of this day of action are a great example of utilising different [agencies'] enforcement powers to reach a successful outcome and disrupt criminal activity," said Phil Davies, Joint Unit for Waste Crime manager.

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"Lancashire's south rural taskforce are committed to continued multi-agency working to tackle these offenders to protect our rural communities," Carr added.

Local residents can do their part to help prevent waste crime by verifying that private waste collectors appear in the U.K. Environmental Agency public register of waste carriers before hiring them, as anyone not listed is operating illegally.

Authorities also encourage the reporting of suspicious dumping activities to the Environment Agency incident hotline or to Crimestoppers U.K.

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