Episode 12 Filthy Rotten Scoundrels


Episode 12

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Transcript


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'Welcome to the fight to clean up our streets and put the great back into Britain.'

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We will not tolerate people fly-tipping in Enfield.

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Our job is to find and to prosecute them.

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'Every 30 seconds, someone somewhere in the UK illegally dumps rubbish.

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'From bags of dog poo to mountains of rubble, it's wrecking the streets where we live.

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'Coming up on today's programme,

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'a night-time operation to catch businesses illegally dumping their waste.'

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You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

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if you do not mention something you later rely on in court.

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'In Liverpool, officers are trying to track down a person who's been very busy dumping in a back street.'

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I'd say this is roughly five separate tips.

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Ah, there we go. We have a name and address.

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'And two brothers have been caught red-handed dumping van-loads of rubbish on CCTV.

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'Will officers get the results they desperately need?'

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Pictures speak a thousand words. But it's really into the judge's hands, how it's going to turn out.

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'This is the fight against Britain's Filthy Rotten Scoundrels.'

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'London. It might look fantastic from the sky, but there's a war being waged on its streets.

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'A war against fly-tipping.

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'Every year, more than half a million illegal fly-tips take place right across the capital.

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'Each borough council has a crack team of investigators

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'determined to catch the scoundrel responsible.'

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There's absolutely no excuse for this behaviour.

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I don't want to see fly-tipped tyres being left in people's front gardens,

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people's driveways, children's play areas.

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We have cameras out there, we will find out who you are and we will deal with you appropriately.

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'In extreme cases,

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'investigators from different boroughs work together to bring the criminals to justice.

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'This is the story of how two brothers, Leslie and Leonard Price,

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'responsible for some of the worst fly-tips in four London boroughs,

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'were brought down by the council determined to get them.

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'Hillingdon, West London, in the dead of the night.

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'CCTV has caught a van about to dump its load all over a road.

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'The investigating officer for this serious fly-tip is Jan Carlo Cera.

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They came with a white tipper...

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..and they dumped approximately two tonnes of building waste.

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This is a bus route and, obviously, caused some disruption to traffic.

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In fact, there was debris scattered all over the place

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and cars going up and down the road had difficulties driving through.

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'And, as if that wasn't bad enough,

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'the same van was captured in the same place dumping another load of waste on the road.

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'This time, they were brazen enough to do it in broad daylight.'

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In the second incident, the white tipper comes from that way.

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The second brother gets off the vehicle,

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walks back towards the first brother,

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fly-tips the waste.

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'The van then hastily draws off, but the brothers are not quite done here yet.'

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After three or four minutes, the CCTV video shows

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the vehicle coming back.

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Now, what we think is that, when he got to the top of the road,

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he realised, or maybe his brother pointed out, that some of the waste had been left on the vehicle.

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'They clearly want to do a good job of it and are back to dump the rest.

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'But our trusty CCTV operator hasn't just been quick with the camera,

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'they've also been quick to dial 999

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'and in a matter of minutes, the brothers were caught bang to rights. What a result!'

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For the police officer to be in the right place at the right time, they were in the area,

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and they managed to attend the site very quickly after the call.

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'This is one of the most outrageous cases Jan Carlo has ever had to deal with.'

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I got the impression that they are not really bothered.

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They know how the system works, they think they can get away with it.

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They're not afraid of being seen, they don't show any remorse or any shame or anything,

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any sort of regret for what they do.

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'The Price brothers clearly don't give a monkeys about the implications of what they're doing.

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'But fly-tips like these are a huge problem for people like Michael Judd

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'who owns stables in the area.'

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We run a riding school in Hillingdon. It's been established now for 50 years.

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We use various parcels of land throughout the borough for grazing

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and for exercise for the horses so they're not too lively when they come into the school to work.

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This is one of the parcels of land we use.

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This road has always been a major problem for tipping.

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If anything comes into our field, it has to be picked up before we put the horses back in.

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Then it has to be disposed of. I keep a skip in my yard, which costs me quite a lot of money to empty.

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It all costs me time and money to clear other people's mess up.

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'And the mess needing to be cleared up is about to get even bigger.

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'Still to come, as Jan Carlo's investigation unfolds,

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'it looks like the brothers are responsible for

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'much more than he first expected.'

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It's probably one of the largest-scale incidents

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that we're currently investigating and have investigated

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for several years now.

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'It's 7pm in North London and Islington Council's environment investigators

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'are on a sting operation to catch out sly traders dumping their waste illegally.'

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Are these bags yours?

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Are you sure?

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'The man in charge tonight is environment street manager Tim Trune,

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'who's joined by his officers Malcolm, Daniel and Eda.

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'46-year-old Tim spent 21 years tackling environmental crime in North London's boroughs.'

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Hello. Can I have a quick word outside?

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'For the past three years, he's been fighting to keep the streets of Islington clean

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'and he's sick of businesses trying it on.'

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What's happening is their waste is being taken away by the council

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free of charge, so it's up to us to make sure that we close that loophole.

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'In Islington alone, there are around 10,000 firms that generate 130 tonnes of rubbish a week.

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'Trade waste has to be disposed of properly and is meant to be put in special plastic bags.

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'Businesses buy these from the council for about £1 and they're collected at specified times.

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'While many traders play it by the book, some are pulling a fast one

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'and putting out their rubbish in thousands of ordinary bin bags.

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'Across the UK, these cheats are costing us, the taxpayer,

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'somewhere in the region of £25 million to dispose of their trade waste.'

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Our brief for tonight is, we're going to have a look at the waste

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and find out what waste is out illegally. We'll do this until the early hours of the morning.

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Hello, sir, are you all right? Do you remember me?

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'28-year-old Eda trained as a police officer before joining Islington's environment enforcers.'

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-Do you have any bags?

-'She's known for her tenacity

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'and her Turkish background has come in pretty handy, too.'

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There's a big Turkish community here. I try and keep to English as much as I can,

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but if they don't understand, then I'll just translate it and speak to them in Turkish.

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'26-year-old Daniel, who's another crusader for the local environment, has been on the job for four years

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'and is tired of traders making our streets a mess.'

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Not only is it the cost of it going to landfill,

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if you just look here,

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it's the cleansing, as well.

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The pavements are stained. We'd have to arrange for a deep clean, guys come down, jetting it.

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'Tonight's sting is targeting the north of the borough that's filled with late-night takeaways,

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'cafes and convenience stores, and it's not long before Daniel and Eda find what they're looking for.'

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Basically, it's these bags here. I've seen these before.

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I'm just going to take a picture now.

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So, basically, I've got the picture of the bags and ... Fried Chicken,

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which I think is where it's come from. So I'm just going to go through it now.

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Yeah, they're all black sacks.

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They should be in authorised trade sacks

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with print on it stating the name of the company that's going to collect it.

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That's clearly commercial waste. Food containers.

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Pitta bread. Industrial-size tomato sauce bottles.

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'In other words, it doesn't look like the stuff that you and I would normally chuck out.

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'And there's loads of it.

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'And then, Daniel finds the last bit of proof he needs.'

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I've got evidence with Fried Chicken on it.

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'Well, this looks like an open and shut case, surely.'

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We've gone through the waste and we have reason to believe it's come from your premises.

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Because the dustbin is here, everybody puts a dustbin here.

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Can you just state, is this your waste?

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This one's mine.

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-Those ones?

-I don't know.

-I can open them.

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'Is this guy a comedian? I can't believe he actually thinks he can fool Daniel and Eda.'

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It's the same type of stuff.

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It's all the same. All chicken.

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Burger buns, chips. It's the same.

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-Yeah, yeah.

-Again. Fried chicken.

-Yeah.

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-Yeah.

-So this one is yours?

-Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

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Right, so, you've got a significant amount of waste here

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illegally deposited on a public highway.

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'So the man fessed up to three bags of rubbish but, what a surprise,

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'there are seven and they're all his.

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'But that's not the half of it. It turns out this takeaway has previous form.'

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So you're aware it's an offence to place your waste out in black sacks.

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-Yeah.

-OK.

-Yeah?

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'Ten out of ten for trying, but there's no pulling the wool over Daniel and Eda's eyes.'

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He's accepted that the waste has come from their business.

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There's a substantial amount of waste here. If you imagine this goes out every evening.

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It's likely he will receive another fixed penalty.

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If not, it could even go to prosecution, cos this is quite a large amount of waste.

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'That's Islington Council one,

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'cheating traders nil.

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'Still to come, officer Tim Trune works on into the night

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'to keep Islington's businesses in check.'

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You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

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if you do not mention something you later rely on in court.

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Anything you do say will be given in evidence.

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'Early on a Monday morning in Liverpool

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'and enforcement investigator Martin Handley has a busy day ahead of him.

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'It's his job to make the city a cleaner place for the residents

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'who have just had enough.'

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There's beds, there's wardrobes, there's three-piece suites,

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there's bin bags full of clothes,

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there's cement, there's everything. You name what you can dump, they dump.

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There's no pleasure in waking up in the morning, looking out of the window

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on a nice day and seeing a load of rubbish.

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Well, I don't think they care about what other people think.

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I think it's just, "Let's take it and get rid of it."

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'Weekends usually see an increase in illegal fly-tips,

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'so by the time Monday comes around, he's straight on the road

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'to try and catch the villains wrecking his city.'

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Where we live, it's...

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I think, one of the best cities in the world anyway,

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with all the heritage it's got, world-famous for its football, its music,

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comedians, some good-looking people have come from here, me not included.

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It wasn't the cleanest and, yes, there was a lot of fly-tipping, but it's decreased.

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If we can make a little difference, make it a bit cleaner, where we live,

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because it's our city as well as everybody else's,

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then job done.

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'Martin's partner in grime today is Bill.

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'He's an ex-dustman and what he doesn't know about rubbish and fly-tipping isn't worth knowing.'

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'Martin and his team constantly keep an eye on fly-tipping hotspots around the city

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'and he's just had a tip-off that one of them has been targeted.'

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We're on Grafton Street in Liverpool 8

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and it's a Monday morning special, furniture with some bags.

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So, again, it's just a case of me and Bill having a look to see what we can find out there.

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So let's go and do that.

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It tends to be more over the weekend that this type of thing gets done

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and we come in and we start finding them all throughout the week.

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Predominantly one of the worst areas in Liverpool for fly-tipping, unfortunately.

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So it's a pretty busy area. As you can see, anywhere at all.

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'This is turning into a good morning for Martin because he's already got a result.'

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On the boxes, there's a name and address just there,

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so we'll photograph that.

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'It never ceases to amaze Bill just how lazy some people are.'

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Not ten minutes from this location, just on the main road down there,

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is the tip, and you can put it there free of charge. Open seven days a week.

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So if we find them, we'll give them the information for where they can take it next time.

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'No excuses there, then.

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'And Martin's starting to get a clearer picture of the person that's dumped this lot.'

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Betting slip, but I don't think any of them came up for him.

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Very optimistic person, whoever that was, they had Wolves to win away at Arsenal.

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'Optimistic but a fool, because Martin's found something that could be a nail in their coffin.'

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-Not too bad.

-A couple of days ago. That's from up the road there.

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People don't realise what they're throwing away.

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Not only is the girl's name and address on it, but also there's a phone number on it.

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'The boys are on a roll this morning and they've got great evidence to follow up on.

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'And, being a Monday morning, they've got their fair share of fly-tips to investigate today.

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'And this tip looks very familiar indeed.'

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Surprise, surprise, the old-style television there.

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Pink bed frame, obviously a little girl's. So, again,

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let's have a look and see what's going on with the world.

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'Martin's being helped out on this one by his colleague, Will,

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and there's a regular routine to how they start off searching a fly-tip like this.'

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As per normal, a bit of a boot, see if there's any vermin or whatever in it.

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They'd leg it, hopefully.

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'Looking at this tiny bed frame and desk,

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'something tells Martin that one little girl perhaps isn't so little any more.

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'And, along with more bags of dumped rubbish, will they find the clues they need?'

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Some domestic waste. It may well be that there's nothing in it at all,

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or we could strike lucky again and end up getting an address out of it.

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'Will's got a nose for searching through bags like this,

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'but could he have struck gold already?'

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Ah! There we go.

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We've struck lucky. Seen where it's from, as well?

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The address we've got on this envelope is well out of the area.

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'It would be easy to think this was all done by the same person,

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'but assumption isn't a word that's in Martin's vocabulary.'

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You can't always assume that this is connected with that.

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One attracts another attracts another. It's a chain effect.

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"If they can leave it there, I'll leave it there."

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'Martin and Will have got what they need and, as always, they leave a calling card.'

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What we'll do, as well, is leave this. It basically informs them of the offence

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and informs them of the consequences.

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Erm, I don't think a lot of people realise that they are the consequences.

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£50,000. People could lose their house.

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Hopefully it'll act as some form of deterrent because it'll show that

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we've looked at the bags, we've looked at the fly-tip, we've searched it.

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'Liverpool's enviro enforcers have been working very hard over recent years

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'to try and make their city a greener and cleaner place to live.'

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We have made a difference. It is improving.

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As you can see, there's lots of law-abiding people here.

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They try to keep their properties nice and clean.

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There's lots of building work, there's lots of redevelopment, regeneration going on,

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and the last thing local residents, local businesses want to see is this.

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'Too right, Martin. Fingers crosses that that letter gets you a result with this lot.

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'A Monday is always busy for these guys, but it looks like somebody's been even busier over the weekend.

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'Still to come, a secluded road just outside the city centre

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'has been hit, and this one is big.'

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I'd say this is roughly one, two, three, four, five separate tips.

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'But will they find any clues to catch the criminals?

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'Back in Islington, enviro investigators are scouring the streets

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'looking out for the businesses illegally putting out their rubbish in ordinary black sacks.

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'Trade waste must be disposed of properly in bags that traders buy from the council for around £1.

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'And this pays for the proper disposal of their waste.

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'Officers Tim and Malcolm are on the road, on the lookout for any rogue bin bags.

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'Now, it would be easy to think this is a small issue, but it all adds up,

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'and ends up costing us, the taxpayer.'

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If you consider that they're using five trade sacks and then two black sacks,

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they're doing that every night of the week, because most fast-food shops are open every day of the year,

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you're looking at 700, 800 sacks, which weighs probably quite a few tonnes.

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'Tim's really had enough of it. So when he spots council dustmen collecting a load of black sacks

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'near a kebab takeaway, he wants to check this out

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'because he's had a problem here before.'

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This is a known site to me for tipping

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and I've already dealt with this bloke via a fixed penalty, or my team have, on previous occasions.

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They put their waste here but they say it's not their waste, it's residential waste.

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'Time to have a word with a man from the shop.'

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Yeah, sorry, my name is Tim Trune, London Borough of Islington.

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It's about your waste which was down here.

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'Tim needs to do this under caution.'

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I'm going to caution you now.

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You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

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if you do not mention something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say will be given in evidence. OK?

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'A quick chat with the man from the shop and Tim's got no evidence to pursue the matter further.

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'But, like he does with every shop in the area, he'll be keeping an eye on what's going on here.'

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I will be here every night. I'll be checking that waste there. OK?

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'Islington's enviro investigators have to keep regular tabs on all the shops and restaurants on their patch

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'because they're determined to make sure the trade waste in their borough is disposed of properly.

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'In 2009, Islington Council handed out over 1,100 fixed penalty notices

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'against businesses putting out waste illegally

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'and these cost the crafty traders almost £87,000 in fines.

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'But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

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'Islington's environment enforcers got mixed results from their night-time operation.

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'It was an £80 fine for the audacious workers at the chicken fast-food restaurant

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'that slung seven bags of illegal rubbish outside their front door.

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'Tim and his enforcers continue to keep regular tabs on all the firms in their patch.

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'So if you're thinking of pulling a fast one, watch out.

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'Still to come on Filthy Rotten Scoundrels,

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'the two brothers, Leonard and Leslie Price,

0:21:400:21:43

'that have been caught repeatedly fly-tipping on CCTV

0:21:430:21:46

'are now facing serious charges in court.'

0:21:460:21:49

I'm hoping for, obviously, a successful result,

0:21:490:21:53

but it's really in the judge's hands how it's going to turn out.

0:21:530:21:56

'But first...

0:21:560:21:58

'In the eastern county of Essex lies Tendring, a seaside district that's home to Clacton-on-Sea

0:21:590:22:04

'and boasts 36 miles of coastline as well as rolling green countryside.

0:22:040:22:10

'You'd think locals would make sure they kept this place clean and tidy for everyone to enjoy.

0:22:100:22:15

'However, a few rotters are determined to ruin it for everyone else.

0:22:150:22:19

'Enviro enforcer Darren Weaver has just picked up a new case.'

0:22:210:22:26

I got a call earlier on regarding some asbestos

0:22:270:22:31

that was suspected to be dumped by a football club in Holland-on-Sea.

0:22:310:22:36

I want to make sure that we get it cleared as soon as possible, really.

0:22:360:22:41

'Asbestos is no joke. If you breathe in the fibres, it can be fatal,

0:22:410:22:46

'and that's why Darren needs to deal with it straight away.

0:22:460:22:50

'But first, he needs to find it.'

0:22:510:22:53

There should be two bags of asbestos dumped by a bungalow.

0:22:580:23:03

There's some building material behind that wall there.

0:23:070:23:10

'Could he have located the poisonous stash?'

0:23:100:23:13

Yeah, it's not asbestos, anyway.

0:23:160:23:19

That's just bricks, really.

0:23:190:23:21

Breeze blocks.

0:23:220:23:24

'It looks like Darren's informants have got their wires crossed.'

0:23:250:23:28

This is a problem we sometimes have,

0:23:280:23:31

the location of the dumped waste is a little bit...vague.

0:23:310:23:36

'It could be anywhere.

0:23:380:23:40

'This place is teeming with bags and bits of trash, but there's no sign of the asbestos.'

0:23:420:23:48

There's bags here. Bags and glass everywhere.

0:23:480:23:52

'And if it does indeed exist, it's something Darren needs to find and sharpish.

0:23:520:23:57

'But this is all in a day's work.'

0:23:570:23:59

I'd rather people call me and talk to me and give me information and I come and it's nothing,

0:23:590:24:06

rather than people not calling me and there is something there and it just gets left there,

0:24:060:24:11

because if I don't know about it, I'm not going to be able to attend and investigate it.

0:24:110:24:16

And it sits there for weeks and weeks and kids play with it

0:24:160:24:19

and people get sick 30 years down the line.

0:24:190:24:21

'Darren needs to locate this tip. Thankfully, he bumps into Charles Ray, the man who made the call.'

0:24:240:24:30

DOG BARKS

0:24:320:24:34

-The car door over there has been there for many, many weeks.

-OK.

0:24:350:24:41

-But this here I think is outrageous.

-OK, let's have a look, then.

0:24:410:24:45

'Charles is obviously upset, but whatever you do, don't do this at home.'

0:24:450:24:51

-It's like a bombsite out here.

-Be careful, I think that is asbestos.

0:24:510:24:55

-Is that asbestos?

-Yeah, that's asbestos, yeah. It is, mate.

0:24:550:25:00

-Look at it.

-Yeah. I wouldn't mess around with it too much if I was you.

0:25:000:25:04

-OK.

-Well, I'm going to pass away one day.

0:25:040:25:07

That is asbestos, though. I know I keep saying it, but be careful.

0:25:070:25:11

'You tell him, Darren. It's dangerous stuff.'

0:25:110:25:15

They have been dumped on here, fly-tippers, got to be local.

0:25:160:25:22

-OK.

-Because there's no way they've come up here in a van.

0:25:220:25:27

They've been doing some refurbishments

0:25:270:25:30

-in three of the places around here.

-OK.

0:25:300:25:35

And I would hate to go to someone, "They done it" and they never. That's not my game.

0:25:350:25:40

-Have you got any CCTV on these grounds?

-On the grounds, no.

0:25:400:25:44

It'll be a tricky one to find out who's done it. I don't want to move it around too much.

0:25:440:25:49

'It's going to be a hard case to crack. With no witnesses or CCTV

0:25:500:25:55

'and with all that asbestos, Darren can't look for clues.

0:25:550:25:59

'But it's not stopping good old Charles.'

0:25:590:26:02

I'm looking in there to see if there's any names on there.

0:26:020:26:05

All I've found are bits of paper with no names or nothing.

0:26:050:26:11

It's instruction manuals. Someone's put a new boiler in. That's what they've done.

0:26:110:26:16

For the old boilers, they used to have asbestos chutes that used to go up, because it's fireproof.

0:26:160:26:21

Up here, at weekends, there's loads of children.

0:26:210:26:25

-Loads and loads of children play up here.

-Yeah.

0:26:250:26:29

I'm an old man, I know. Two third of my life is gone.

0:26:290:26:35

-But to dump that where there's loads of children, you don't do that.

-It's inconsiderate.

0:26:350:26:39

That's what we're trying to fight.

0:26:390:26:41

'Bless his cotton socks. But Charles is right.

0:26:410:26:44

'These dirty rotten fly-tippers have gone too far. Way too far.

0:26:440:26:49

'But I hate to say it, every cloud does have a silver lining, and for Charles, it's scrap metal.'

0:26:500:26:57

Here, I might have that for the scrap yard, that bit of copper.

0:26:590:27:04

That might be my breakfast tomorrow, that bit of copper.

0:27:040:27:07

-Do you know how much that is?

-If you're going to recycle it, I don't see a problem with that.

0:27:070:27:12

-I will.

-Yeah.

0:27:120:27:14

If we cover this back up, and I'll get it taken away.

0:27:140:27:18

'Charles has made himself a few quid from the scrap metal.

0:27:190:27:22

'But for Darren, he's got to arrange for the council to specially dispose of the asbestos

0:27:220:27:27

'which, of course, will be at the expense of the tendering taxpayer.'

0:27:270:27:30

I reckon you've got a good breakfast there.

0:27:320:27:35

How much, then? How much weight would you say that is?

0:27:360:27:39

I reckon you've got about four quid, five quid.

0:27:390:27:44

'Back in Hillingdon, Jan Carlo is the investigating officer

0:27:490:27:52

'on one of the borough's biggest ever cases of fly-tipping.

0:27:520:27:56

'Brothers Leslie and Leonard Price have been caught on CCTV

0:27:570:28:00

'and on one occasion, they were even caught red-handed by the police.

0:28:000:28:04

'The case being put together against the brothers also shows them dumping at another location.

0:28:070:28:12

'Their target was a car park at a builders merchants.

0:28:120:28:15

'It had been hit so many times before that CCTV cameras were put up to catch people in the act.

0:28:170:28:23

'And guess what! It worked!'

0:28:230:28:25

'Rick Betford is the supervisor here and it's an all-too-common sight for him.'

0:28:260:28:31

A typical morning, you can drive in

0:28:310:28:34

and as you approach it, you'll find that the whole parking space

0:28:340:28:37

has been taken up by fly-tipped rubbish.

0:28:370:28:40

It's a bit ironic, because we're a building and maintenance company,

0:28:410:28:45

we have our own rubbish that we generate, and to think other people are out there and they drive down

0:28:450:28:50

any quiet back road that they can find and just dump what they like.

0:28:500:28:54

You have to have that sort of mentality where you don't really have much of a conscience

0:28:560:29:00

and don't really care. As long as it's out of sight for them,

0:29:000:29:03

they don't really worry about the impact on anybody else.

0:29:030:29:07

'Jan Carlo now had three fly-tips on his patch that he knew the brothers were responsible for.

0:29:090:29:15

'The evidence was clear, and just as he was about to put the case through the council's legal team,

0:29:150:29:20

'there was some surprising news.

0:29:200:29:22

'Ealing Council, a neighbouring borough, were also after the brothers on fly-tipping charges.

0:29:260:29:32

'Today, he's on his way to Ealing Magistrates' Court.

0:29:330:29:36

'Having already served a formal interview notice to Leonard Price,

0:29:360:29:40

'today his brother Leslie is in court

0:29:400:29:42

'and Jan Carlo plans to serve him with his.'

0:29:420:29:46

He is a professional. He has been doing this, I understand, many, many times for the past six months.

0:29:460:29:51

We hope that, after the court, I'll be able to speak to him.

0:29:540:29:58

I'll have a letter ready to hand him inviting him for interview next week in Hillingdon

0:29:580:30:03

where we hope we'll have an opportunity to interview him and clarify his role in these incidents.

0:30:030:30:09

'Bill Hickson is Jan Carlo's boss

0:30:100:30:12

'and is just as determined to catch the scoundrels.

0:30:120:30:15

'Now, the brothers know what they're doing is illegal and Bill knows why they're doing it.'

0:30:150:30:21

Crimes committed by hardened criminals are becoming harder to commit these days

0:30:210:30:26

and therefore people are looking to carry out an offence where they can make money

0:30:260:30:31

and it is going to be hard for people to track down who these people are.

0:30:310:30:36

And that's why we're using all of our techniques to investigate,

0:30:360:30:40

to find out who these people are and bring them to justice.

0:30:400:30:44

'Hillingdon deals with nearly 2,000 fly-tips a year,

0:30:450:30:49

'but the enforcement team are making good progress in tackling the issue.

0:30:490:30:53

'Jan Carlo is now back from Ealing Magistrates' Court to bring Bill up to speed with how he got on.'

0:30:530:31:00

The brother has pleaded not guilty to all 20 charges.

0:31:000:31:04

-All 20?

-He's been remanded in custody for the next four weeks.

0:31:040:31:10

-So he is obviously being referred to Crown Court.

-Did you have an opportunity to speak to him?

0:31:100:31:15

He said that he was not very happy to be interviewed.

0:31:150:31:19

He was not very polite to the police officer when he replied to the offer.

0:31:190:31:23

But I don't think there'll be an opportunity because he'll be kept in custody now for the next four weeks.

0:31:230:31:29

And then, from there, he's going to go on trial.

0:31:290:31:32

So there's an opportunity for us now to catch up

0:31:320:31:37

and do the case file and bring it forwards.

0:31:370:31:41

'Ealing has a strong case against the brothers and so does Hillingdon,

0:31:420:31:45

'especially with the CCTV footage and the police catching them in the act.

0:31:450:31:50

'Jan Carlo and his colleagues are now ready to put the final pieces of their investigation together.

0:31:540:32:00

'Attention to detail is key for these officers, who must make sure they've got a watertight case

0:32:000:32:06

'if they're going to get a conviction.

0:32:060:32:08

'Boss Bill Hickson knows how important it is that they get it right first time.'

0:32:080:32:13

It's probably one of the largest-scale incidents that we're currently investigating

0:32:140:32:19

and, indeed, have investigated for several years now.

0:32:190:32:23

When we get these individuals into court, it is satisfying for all the officers that put the hard work in,

0:32:230:32:29

but not only that, it's the residents of Hillingdon that can actually see

0:32:290:32:32

the improvements that we're making, and when these incidents take place, appropriate action is being taken.

0:32:320:32:39

'Everyone is hoping that everything they've got will bring these crooks down.'

0:32:400:32:45

That is one of the elements that I know that our legal team will be pressing to judges,

0:32:450:32:49

to actually look at the evidence and it really does give first-hand viewing of what has occurred.

0:32:490:32:55

And, of course, pictures speak a thousand words.

0:32:550:32:57

But it's really in the judge's hands how it's going to turn out.

0:32:570:33:02

'Still to come, with everyone poised for the final court case,

0:33:030:33:06

'will Hillingdon and Ealing Councils get the results they desperately want?'

0:33:060:33:11

This is the best part of the job. You've got a conclusion,

0:33:110:33:14

you've got to the end of the case from an investigative point of view

0:33:140:33:17

and now it's up to our legal team to present the best case.

0:33:170:33:21

'Back in Liverpool, it's a busy Monday for enforcement officer Martin.

0:33:230:33:27

'He's already been to two tips that happened over the weekend

0:33:270:33:30

'and is now on his way to another. And this one is big!'

0:33:300:33:35

We're on our way to a place called Mann Street.

0:33:350:33:38

It's just outside the city centre.

0:33:380:33:41

Apparently, there's a large fly-tip in there, so we're going to have a look, see what we can find.

0:33:410:33:48

As you can see, as close to the city centre as it is,

0:33:480:33:52

it's really, really quiet and out of the way,

0:33:520:33:55

so it's ideal for people to go and tip in.

0:33:550:33:57

But, unfortunately for them, we know it's an area for them to tip in so we're on the case.

0:33:570:34:05

So let's see what we can see.

0:34:050:34:10

'Martin's been joined by his colleague Bill for this one.'

0:34:100:34:14

-This is a nice, juicy one, isn't it?

-I'd say this was roughly one, two, three, four, five separate tips.

0:34:140:34:21

Potentially, it's the same person, five different tips.

0:34:210:34:25

What we'll do now is carry out a search of the properties just here and see what we can find.

0:34:250:34:30

'With every fly-tip, the boys need to find hard evidence that will lead them to the illegal dumpers.

0:34:310:34:37

'But they always have a gut feeling about who's been up to no good.'

0:34:370:34:41

This is definitely a house clearance.

0:34:410:34:46

About three or four different drops.

0:34:460:34:49

-I would suggest a van of some sort.

-If it was a van, looking at the size of the road,

0:34:500:34:55

they'd have to back onto there to get it out because of that lamppost,

0:34:550:34:58

whereas a three and a half tonne just comes up, get dumped and away.

0:34:580:35:02

-So sorry, Martin.

-He says tom-ar-toe, I say tom-ay-toe.

0:35:020:35:06

'Now stop bickering, boys.

0:35:070:35:09

'Bill's got a few tricks up his sleeve.'

0:35:090:35:12

One thing we will say about three-piece suites, although they think there's nothing in them...

0:35:120:35:17

What we can do is just get a knife and cut the bottom

0:35:210:35:25

and because it's come from a property, sometimes mail is put down the side

0:35:250:35:29

and you can't deny that that was in that property.

0:35:290:35:32

'But there's no need for a knife today, though, because Martin is already onto something.'

0:35:320:35:37

Ah, here we go.

0:35:370:35:39

We have a name and address.

0:35:390:35:41

Can you get us an evidence bag please, Bill? Thank you.

0:35:410:35:45

So what I'll do now is I'll get my very expensive

0:35:460:35:52

150-megapixel camera out

0:35:520:35:55

and take a photograph of it.

0:35:550:35:59

We're not accusing this guy, as yet, of doing it, or person.

0:36:000:36:04

But what we'll do is we will write to this person and invite them to come in for an interview.

0:36:040:36:11

And let us know why and how it got there or how they think it got here.

0:36:120:36:17

The person named there is actually, I would assume,

0:36:170:36:21

it's only an assumption, applying for a security licence.

0:36:210:36:25

But unfortunately, if he gets done for fly-tipping, he's got no chance cos he'll get a criminal conviction.

0:36:250:36:30

It's definitely a house clearance.

0:36:300:36:33

As you can see, we've got baths, toilets, furniture.

0:36:330:36:36

Mattresses. Builders' rubble.

0:36:380:36:41

'But there's something else they've found that's even more alarming.'

0:36:410:36:45

We've even got some sort of asbestos on one of them, so we'll contact the team that deals with that.

0:36:450:36:52

It can kill you years on. So the people who are dumping it,

0:36:520:36:55

not only are they trying to save a few quid, but they're risking their own lives and the lives of others.

0:36:550:37:01

If they're taking that in a van, I wouldn't like to be in an enclosed space with asbestos.

0:37:010:37:05

So good luck to them. I hope they don't get anything nasty.

0:37:050:37:09

'But the asbestos isn't the only thing that Bill's spotted that could be dangerous.

0:37:090:37:13

'If the carpet's set alight, it can be engulfed in flames very quickly.

0:37:130:37:17

It's very toxic if it burns.

0:37:180:37:21

It's right next to a brewery, there's businesses right next to it. If that goes on fire...

0:37:210:37:25

You'd be amazed what people do actually throw away.

0:37:270:37:30

This is complete. Name, address, bank account,

0:37:300:37:35

the transactions that he's had recently.

0:37:350:37:38

-So it tells us who he is, where he is, how much he's worth.

-Yeah.

0:37:380:37:45

And what his bank details are.

0:37:450:37:48

I mean, that in the wrong hands is worth a fortune.

0:37:480:37:51

'Martin and Bill are starting to build a picture of what they think might have been going on here.'

0:37:510:37:57

The addresses may be different, but the materials are the same

0:37:570:38:00

and they're dumped in the same area. So the assumption, and it's only an assumption,

0:38:000:38:04

is that the same person has done all the dumping.

0:38:040:38:07

Obviously, we'll write to all these people named

0:38:070:38:10

and see if they can help us distinguish that fact.

0:38:100:38:13

Because if it's the same person who's collecting from different addresses,

0:38:130:38:17

the people where he's collecting from,

0:38:170:38:19

there's a fair chance they're paying him to remove this stuff. They're doing it in good faith

0:38:190:38:24

and he can't be bothered going down to the tip, he can't be bothered queuing up, whatever the reason is,

0:38:240:38:30

he doesn't care that there's other people's details there. It's free.

0:38:300:38:35

'The clean-up crews will be called out straight away,

0:38:360:38:39

'especially to get rid of that asbestos.

0:38:390:38:41

'Martin and Bill have got all the evidence they need from this dump

0:38:410:38:45

'and with a maximum fine of £50,000 and five years in prison at stake,

0:38:450:38:50

'they're hoping that one of the people they interview will lead them closer to the scoundrel dumper.

0:38:500:38:56

'Back in Hillingdon, officers have been putting together

0:38:580:39:01

'what they hope will be a strong case against two brothers, Leslie and Leonard Price.

0:39:010:39:06

'It's alleged that they've been repeatedly fly-tipping across four London boroughs.'

0:39:080:39:13

It's probably one of the largest-scale incidents that we're currently investigating

0:39:130:39:17

and, indeed, have investigated for several years now.

0:39:170:39:21

'There's a lot riding on this case, and finally the day everyone's been preparing for has arrived.

0:39:210:39:27

'It's the day of the court case.'

0:39:270:39:29

Yeah, this is the best part of the job. You've got a conclusion,

0:39:300:39:33

the end of the case, certainly from the investigative point of view.

0:39:330:39:37

And we can just come along to court now. We've done our bit

0:39:370:39:42

in terms of obtaining all the evidence.

0:39:420:39:44

Now it's up to our legal team to present the best case.

0:39:440:39:48

'Surely, with the amount of damning evidence they have, especially the CCTV,

0:39:500:39:55

'this should be an open and shut case.

0:39:550:39:58

'And it's not long before John is out with the news.'

0:39:580:40:01

He pleaded guilty to all three charges

0:40:020:40:06

and the court decided it would be better if they were all sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court

0:40:060:40:12

at a date to be arranged in conjunction with about another half dozen offences

0:40:120:40:18

that he's already admitted in Ealing, Richmond and Merton, I believe.

0:40:180:40:24

I'm absolutely delighted. The evidence was so overwhelming

0:40:240:40:27

that the one brother, Leonard, he had nothing other than to plead guilty,

0:40:270:40:33

cos the evidence was so overwhelming. I would suspect you're looking at a very serious sentence.

0:40:330:40:40

'It's a great result for the council enforcement teams

0:40:400:40:42

'and for the people who live in the local area, too.'

0:40:420:40:46

I think the general public, me included,

0:40:460:40:48

tend to feel that these people just get away with it.

0:40:480:40:51

We don't actually hear of anybody being prosecuted.

0:40:510:40:54

So if they have been caught, I guess it's good.

0:40:540:40:56

They shouldn't have done it and maybe the publicity will deter other people.

0:40:560:41:00

'June 2010, and brothers Leslie and Leonard Price have now been sentenced for their crimes.

0:41:010:41:06

'Bill Hickson, the boss of Hillingdon enviro enforcers, has the news.'

0:41:060:41:11

The sentencing was very severe

0:41:120:41:16

and was in line with the offences they had committed.

0:41:160:41:19

One of the brothers received a 12-month jail sentence

0:41:190:41:23

for each of the cases that he had been involved in,

0:41:230:41:28

plus he was awarded an Anti-Social Behaviour Order

0:41:280:41:31

which restricts him, for five years, carrying out waste operations.

0:41:310:41:35

The other brother concerned

0:41:350:41:38

was awarded 200 hours community service, which will be completed within the next two years.

0:41:380:41:43

It just goes to show that the courts are taking environmental crime very seriously.

0:41:430:41:49

It's not acceptable. There's massive harm done

0:41:490:41:53

to the local environment, and not only that, it's the cost of the clearance

0:41:530:41:59

that could clearly be spent on other activities that the local authority could put into the community.

0:41:590:42:06

The sentences do show a very strong message

0:42:060:42:09

that environmental crime is not acceptable

0:42:090:42:12

and local authorities will do everything that they possibly can

0:42:120:42:16

to find offenders and take appropriate action against those offenders.

0:42:160:42:22

'In the Liverpool fly-tipping case where Martin found the betting slip,

0:42:220:42:26

'they spoke to the person whose name and phone number they found,

0:42:260:42:29

'but they weren't linked to the dump.

0:42:290:42:32

'In the case with the pink bed frame and smashed TV,

0:42:320:42:35

'Martin and Will are still following up on leads.

0:42:350:42:38

'And as for the multiple dumps just outside the town centre,

0:42:380:42:41

'Martin and Bill are still investigating.

0:42:410:42:45

'Every day on our behalf right across the UK,

0:42:450:42:49

'officers are trying to make our country a greener, cleaner place to live.

0:42:490:42:53

'Join us next time when we'll be exposing more Filthy Rotten Scoundrels.'

0:42:530:42:59

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:43:010:43:05

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0:43:050:43:09

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