THIS is the moment fly-tipped rubbish was set on fire after being dumped.

And a Blackburn man has been prosecuted over the incident after it was caught on camera.

James Lawrence Young, of Ewood Caravan site, Bolton Road, was given an 18-month conditional discharge and fined £300 after his van was photographed dumping plas-tics and trade waste.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Young did not dump the rubbish himself but pleaded guilty to allowing the flytipping to take place.

Magistrates were told that a large amount of trade waste including plastics was dumped from the back of a yellow Ford Transit van owned by Young on August 20 last year.

The rubbish was then set alight. The entire incident was captured on the CCTV surveillance camera from the camera site and an investigation was launched by council officers.

Magistrates were told that because the van captured on CCTV was registered to Young, he was deemed to be responsible for the offence being committed.

Young pleaded guilty to knowingly permitting cont-rolled waste to be dumped on land without a waste manag-ement permit.

He was also charged with failing to submit details of his business waste disposal to the council, in accordance with a legal notice, to which he also pleaded guilty.

After the case, Coun Alan Cottam, executive member for regeneration and environment, said: “With the amount of surveillance that is available these days, it is not viable to commit such offences as there is a high chance you will be caught.

“Flytippers should be aware that not only do we have our own surveillance, but the public are taking responsibility too and acting as our eyes and ears too.

“They are so appalled by fly tipping that they are willing to report incidents and give information to the council such as car registration numbers.”