:00:04. > :00:07.A computer. A computer. It's unacceptable behaviour to do this
:00:07. > :00:11.sort of thing. There's no need for it. There are local tips available.
:00:11. > :00:14.Just take it down the tip. We're on the front line of the clear-up and
:00:14. > :00:20.the fight back with the dedicated teams tracking down the rogues and
:00:20. > :00:23.putting the 'Great' back into Britain. It may harm your defence
:00:23. > :00:27.if you fail to mention when questioned something which you
:00:27. > :00:32.later rely on in court. Today, searching for clues in a fly-tip,
:00:32. > :00:40.an amateur sleuth provides the damning evidence. This was actually
:00:40. > :00:43.in there? It was, yes. You found this in the tip? That's brilliant.
:00:43. > :00:47.As a tax payer I'm quite appalled. We spend a lot of money on our
:00:47. > :00:49.refuse collection. I don't feel we should foot the bill for these fly-
:00:49. > :00:53.tippers. I think it's a disgrace. And the intricate detective work
:00:53. > :00:57.that brought to book the man with a van who couldn't be bothered to do
:00:57. > :00:59.the recycling. We've got the same table, the same covering, the same
:00:59. > :01:04.breeze blocks and, to tie everything together, we have the
:01:04. > :01:07.address of the premises all this came from on this box here.
:01:07. > :01:17.that, and Britain's worst fly- tipper. Welcome to the dirty world
:01:17. > :01:31.
:01:31. > :01:34.Now, although my body is a temple, I have to confess to occasionally
:01:34. > :01:41.joining the congregation who worship at the alter of the Sunday
:01:41. > :01:48.morning fry-up. Tasty! But have you ever thought about what happens to
:01:48. > :01:51.all the waste oil you casually tip In London, Thames Water are
:01:51. > :01:53.fighting a constant battle to keep the sewers flowing against the
:01:53. > :02:01.growing tide of waste oil that accumulates, hardens and causes
:02:01. > :02:08.expensive blockages. But what they've cleared so far is just the
:02:08. > :02:11.tip of the fat-berg. Blockages are a great cost to Thames as a company,
:02:11. > :02:13.and to all water companies. But, more importantly, it's not the
:02:13. > :02:16.financial cost, it's the cost of the inconvenience to customers
:02:16. > :02:23.where people have disposed of stuff into the sewer system that they
:02:23. > :02:26.shouldn't dispose of in the first place. And they cost millions.
:02:26. > :02:29.We're talking about millions and millions of pounds a year to
:02:29. > :02:34.unblock. So, basically, it's our own fault and it's our own sewers
:02:34. > :02:37.we're blocking up, and not just with fat. All the things we
:02:37. > :02:42.shouldn't be flushing down the loo, from cotton wool to condoms just
:02:42. > :02:46.make it worse. The silly thing is, it's all completely avoidable.
:02:46. > :02:49.taken out and it goes to landfill. Why not short-circuit that and put
:02:49. > :02:52.it straight into the bin, where it would just go directly to landfill
:02:52. > :03:00.and not possibly cause people problems with sewer blockages and
:03:00. > :03:03.sewer floodings. Right, own up, do you pour your oil down the sink?
:03:03. > :03:07.Usually when I'm chucking away cooking oil we let it dry first and
:03:07. > :03:11.then chuck it in the bin. Good man. Swot, some might say. OK, next.
:03:11. > :03:14.I've done any cooking with chickens or meats or anything, the oil and
:03:14. > :03:17.the waste and the fat I generally pour it into a carton, like a
:03:17. > :03:20.carton of juice or something that we've finished off. And then when
:03:20. > :03:25.it's all solidified I just sling it in the bin. Another shining example.
:03:25. > :03:29.Is anyone going to own up to it? I'm frying and I use kitchen roll,
:03:29. > :03:32.I wipe the pan and put that in the refuse bins that go with the other
:03:32. > :03:42.recycling stuff, and then I wash it in the sink, but hopefully there's
:03:42. > :03:43.
:03:43. > :03:47.no fat left in the utensils. Oooh! Very fair, sir. If it goes down the
:03:47. > :03:50.sink it just goes hard down in the pipes and it just blocks everything
:03:50. > :03:54.up. With all the other that goes rubbish that goes down the sink as
:03:54. > :03:57.well, it just goes all scummy and blocks things up, which it has done
:03:57. > :04:00.in our street. And that's exactly the problem. We might think the
:04:00. > :04:05.main culprits are restaurants and cafes, but, in fact, most blockages
:04:05. > :04:14.are found in the small pipes around people's homes. So, waders on and
:04:14. > :04:17.Today, the Thames Water team have the unenviable task of going down
:04:17. > :04:25.into the sewers underneath London's Westminster to chip away at the
:04:25. > :04:35.fetid fat which has accumulated there. You're doing a tough job,
:04:35. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:41.We're going to go down and remove the fat that's on the sides of the
:04:41. > :04:45.sewer there. We're going to get some of that off to aid the flow,
:04:45. > :04:48.push it through faster. This is serious work, people. Just look at
:04:48. > :04:51.the conditions. It's hot down there, about 30 degrees, would you
:04:51. > :04:56.believe? And I think we can all guess what it smells like. These
:04:56. > :05:00.men are to be applauded. As you can see here, but fat is actually
:05:00. > :05:06.completely solid. I mean, this has all been flushed, this liquid fat
:05:07. > :05:14.and sanitary items. But it's actually solid and to cut through
:05:14. > :05:20.it, it's like clay almost. The same consistency as clay has got, really.
:05:20. > :05:25.A dry clay. So, it takes us a lot of effort to remove it from the
:05:25. > :05:30.walls. You're telling me. It's not a quick wipe with a bit of kitchen
:05:30. > :05:34.towel now, is it? If we leave this fat without actually cleaning it
:05:34. > :05:41.off, you can see how it's starting to build up, so what would happen
:05:42. > :05:47.is we'd end up with a complete blockage. I mean, look, this is a
:05:47. > :05:53.small lump, you know? It's only a small section on the top, but you
:05:53. > :05:57.can see there how big that is. Shame on you, fat flushers. The fat
:05:57. > :06:01.that we've got here has come from a variety of places. I mean, we're in
:06:01. > :06:07.the heart of the West End here, so there are lots of restaurants, also
:06:07. > :06:15.domestic premises, as well. Commercial premises aren't the only
:06:15. > :06:18.offenders. You can tell that from finding condoms and sanitary items.
:06:18. > :06:21.I don't know about you, but after watching this I'll never throw
:06:21. > :06:24.anything except water down my sink again. Thames Water alone deals
:06:24. > :06:33.with 55,000 blockages a year at a cost of an eye watering �12 million,
:06:33. > :06:36.and that's just for one year! You're already paying your Council
:06:36. > :06:39.Tax, and yet you're paying us to dispose of your rubbish as well,
:06:39. > :06:43.whereas this could just go straight into your bin, into landfill, which
:06:43. > :06:49.is where it's supposed to go. point well made, and here's Danny's
:06:50. > :06:53.audition to present Blue Peter. What people should be doing with
:06:53. > :06:57.their fat is waiting for it to cool and congeal and then you can scoop
:06:57. > :07:04.it out of the pan with kitchen roll, or you can even mix birdseed with
:07:04. > :07:08.it and make fat balls out of it for the birds during the winter.
:07:08. > :07:10.one you made earlier? After half an hour chipping away at Westminster's
:07:10. > :07:19.impressive underground fat-berg, Danny's got plenty to feed the
:07:19. > :07:23.birds with. Maybe it's all those dinners the MPs have been scoffing.
:07:23. > :07:27.As you saw, we removed quite a large lump of fat from the sewer. I
:07:27. > :07:30.mean, it only looked like a small bit above the surface, but when we
:07:30. > :07:34.broke it up underneath it weighed a good 150 kilos. So, I mean, that's
:07:34. > :07:37.a large bit of fat. If that had have come through on its own, it
:07:37. > :07:40.could have quite easily blocked the cipher and then we'd have had
:07:40. > :07:44.potentially a bit of a flooding issue on our hand, so we've been in
:07:44. > :07:47.and we've cleaned it now and safe in the knowledge that it will run
:07:47. > :07:50.fine for another couple of months without causing too many problems
:07:50. > :07:54.through the network. Well done, chaps. Now, go and have a shower,
:07:54. > :07:58.you've done us proud. Join us later to find out how a bus company has
:07:58. > :08:08.come up with a clever way of using leftover oil to steer their vessels
:08:08. > :08:11.
:08:11. > :08:21.A brilliant detective story now. Are you sitting comfortably? Then
:08:21. > :08:23.I'll begin. It looks kosher enough, doesn't it? A man chucking out his
:08:23. > :08:26.waste at a recycling centre in North Shields, acting like a
:08:26. > :08:29.responsible citizen. But that's all he was doing, acting, because
:08:29. > :08:39.instead of properly recycling everything in his van, half of it
:08:39. > :08:39.
:08:39. > :08:45.landed up being dumped at the side Filthy, stinking trash strewn
:08:45. > :08:47.everywhere. Disgusting. But, our rotten scoundrel wasn't going to
:08:47. > :08:54.get away with it that easily, not if North Tyneside Council's
:08:54. > :08:57.environment officers had anything to do with it. Wayne Young is in
:08:57. > :09:00.charge of the team that pieced together a fascinating string of
:09:00. > :09:08.clues to track down the man responsible, and this is how it all
:09:09. > :09:13.happened. What he decided to do is travel down to this site next to an
:09:13. > :09:16.industrial estate and dump the remainder of the waste. He was
:09:16. > :09:22.actually witnessed by a local security guard pulling up onto the
:09:22. > :09:27.site, tipping off his waste and driving away from the site. And
:09:27. > :09:33.that was dumped just over here. security guard reported what he had
:09:33. > :09:37.seen. The investigation had begun. Wayne's team arrived to pick apart
:09:37. > :09:45.the festering haul looking for clues. What a job. But the mucky
:09:45. > :09:48.work paid off. The investigators went through and found some
:09:48. > :09:51.addresses that linked the waste to an address in Newcastle. And bingo!
:09:51. > :09:55.Mistake number one from the fly- tipper. Wayne's officers drove over
:09:55. > :09:58.to Newcastle and knocked on the door of the address they had found.
:09:58. > :10:08.No one was at home, but there was another clue staring them in the
:10:08. > :10:13.face, a 'To Let' sign outside the house. Next stop, the letting
:10:13. > :10:17.agents. The letting agent explained that they had employed a person of
:10:17. > :10:20.JH Environmental Services to take away the waste. Environmental
:10:20. > :10:23.services! That's some cheek! The letting agency thought they were
:10:23. > :10:26.employing someone who's do the job to the letter of the law, but
:10:26. > :10:31.there's nothing environmental about dumping rubbish at the side of the
:10:31. > :10:34.road. But with a name and number, it was another lucky break for
:10:34. > :10:39.Wayne's team and the net was closing in on the filthy rotten
:10:39. > :10:44.fly-tipper. It turns out that the business was owned by 24 year old
:10:44. > :10:51.Jamie Harker, who charged �70 in cash to take away the rubbish. And
:10:51. > :10:54.this is when he made mistake number two. He went to a household waste
:10:54. > :10:57.recycling centre, which is meant just for local residents to use to
:10:57. > :11:00.dispose of their waste, and he signed a disclaimer to say he was a
:11:00. > :11:03.local resident and he wasn't being paid for disposal of the waste.
:11:03. > :11:06.mistake. In fact, massive, because every week Wayne's tireless team of
:11:06. > :11:11.enforcers do the rounds of recycling centers and check out all
:11:11. > :11:14.those disclaimers. They were already on to Harker through the
:11:14. > :11:19.letting agency, so when his name came up again alarm bells started
:11:19. > :11:27.ringing. A quick check of the CCTV soon picked out the scoundrel and
:11:27. > :11:30.eagle-eyed Wayne suddenly saw his whole case fall into place. As you
:11:31. > :11:36.can see here, this person has on the breeze blocks, a wooden table
:11:36. > :11:40.top and a black covering. It's a really hot day and later on you see
:11:40. > :11:45.he gives up. We'll see him there actually going out and leaving the
:11:45. > :11:49.site. Awww, didums! Was it too much like hard work having to sort out
:11:49. > :11:53.everything to put it into the proper skips? Having to actually
:11:53. > :11:57.recycle the waste you'd been paid to dispose of properly? Well,
:11:57. > :12:01.obviously it was. Just look at how much stuff is left in the back of
:12:01. > :12:11.his van. Harker thought it was quicker and easier to just fly-tip
:12:11. > :12:15.
:12:15. > :12:18.Look familiar? We've got the same table, the same covering, the same
:12:18. > :12:23.breeze blocks and, to tie everything together, we have the
:12:23. > :12:27.address of the premises all this came from on this box here.
:12:27. > :12:32.it's like watching Poirot on the Orient Express! Wayne had his man
:12:32. > :12:35.and Harker was bang to rights. In March 2011, he was found guilty of
:12:35. > :12:37.two fly-tipping offences and ordered to pay �100 costs to the
:12:37. > :12:47.council and handed a 12 month conditional discharge, meaning if
:12:47. > :12:47.
:12:47. > :12:54.he did this again in the next year But for Wayne, Harker's conviction
:12:54. > :12:56.meant a lot more than being found guilty of his crimes. Following the
:12:56. > :13:00.convictions, this story was actually featured in a local
:13:00. > :13:04.newspaper which outlines what this person did. There's the waste there
:13:04. > :13:07.he dumped. This sends out a clear message to other people who may be
:13:07. > :13:10.wanting to fly-tip that if you do fly-tip within this area, we'll
:13:10. > :13:20.investigate and we will prosecute. Hear, hear, Wayne! And good
:13:20. > :13:21.
:13:21. > :13:24.Keeping our streets clean is a mammoth job at the best of times,
:13:24. > :13:34.but there are some filthy rotten scoundrels who seem intent on
:13:34. > :13:35.
:13:35. > :13:38.making it even tougher, as Before you get to the railway
:13:38. > :13:44.embankment there are the backs of houses and people tend to go behind
:13:44. > :13:49.there and drop sacks of rubbish, sofas, and then set fire to them.
:13:49. > :13:53.Look! I mean, look! That's because people don't want to pay to put
:13:53. > :13:56.tyres in the dumps, so it's easy to throw them down there. That's a
:13:56. > :13:59.really, really wrong attitude. I don't think there's any need for it.
:13:59. > :14:03.I think it's just laziness, to be honest. I think they should be
:14:03. > :14:07.fined instantly. Fine them heavily. They won't do it again. Not only
:14:07. > :14:11.fine them, send them out clearing up litter. If they continue? In
:14:11. > :14:13.prison. Pretty clear, eh? People are fed up with rubbish louts.
:14:14. > :14:20.Doncaster Council spent �3.5 million last year clearing up our
:14:20. > :14:23.mess. Now, that's not for ordinary rubbish collection. That's for dog
:14:23. > :14:29.fouling, fly-tipping, dropped fag ends, discarded gum and thousands
:14:29. > :14:33.of black bags of rubbish that never made it to the bin. That's day to
:14:33. > :14:35.day work for Doncaster grime fighters. But environmental
:14:35. > :14:45.investigator Bob Allen was recently confronted with something
:14:45. > :14:47.
:14:47. > :14:50.A job they got right up his nose. In the 10 years I've been doing
:14:50. > :14:54.this job, this is possibly the worst one I've ever seen just
:14:54. > :14:57.because of the nature of what it was. When I got a call for this one,
:14:57. > :15:02.it was sent through to me with the photograph. When I got out there, I
:15:02. > :15:07.couldn't believe what I was seeing. And what he was seeing was animal
:15:07. > :15:11.carcasses just dumped on a remote road. It was a nice warm day. The
:15:11. > :15:15.smell was just starting to come out, but the first thing I saw was the
:15:15. > :15:20.pig's head. This is unbelievable. It was clear this wasn't your
:15:21. > :15:23.average dump. I'm looking at that thing smiling at me. It was
:15:23. > :15:26.surrounded by blood, broken eggs, empty milk cartons, pigs' feet,
:15:27. > :15:31.pigs' ears. It was tripe. It was the side of the carcass where the
:15:31. > :15:36.fat's all cut off. Past its sell-by date bacon where, because it was
:15:36. > :15:39.warm, the packets had swollen. Some of the meat that was in there, I
:15:39. > :15:43.presume it was intestines, offal and things like that, that had gone
:15:44. > :15:47.almost grey and putrefied. There was a hell of a mixture of smells.
:15:47. > :15:51.Stop, Bob! I'm feeling a bit off colour myself now. But where on
:15:51. > :15:57.Earth had this awful smelling offal come from? Bob had the unenviable
:15:57. > :16:01.job of searching this lot for clues. I was there for an hour or so
:16:01. > :16:04.searching through it. There were labels in there from main brand
:16:04. > :16:08.supermarkets, so I thought that it can't be a fly-tip case, there's a
:16:08. > :16:11.bit more to this one. So, I pulled a lot of the evidence out and went
:16:11. > :16:15.to certain shops. They told us quite openly, yeah, we have this
:16:15. > :16:18.guy comes round, collects our end of product meat. End of product
:16:18. > :16:22.meat? It's got a horrible kind of ring to it. Bob contacted the
:16:22. > :16:24.company who were doing the pick ups and they said one of their vehicles,
:16:24. > :16:30.still full of rotting carcasses, had been stolen and still hadn't
:16:30. > :16:33.been traced. Some unwitting van thief had got more than they
:16:33. > :16:39.bargained for when they made off with this load. No wonder they
:16:39. > :16:43.wanted rid of it. Disgraceful that they dumped it. You know, where
:16:43. > :16:46.they'd dumped it was right near to a water filled ditch, so a lot of
:16:46. > :16:49.that stuff could contaminate the water. It was across an access road
:16:49. > :16:53.to a water treatment plant. I just don't think that these guys could
:16:53. > :16:56.care less. The filthy scoundrels must have got a well deserved shock
:16:56. > :17:01.when they opened the back of the truck. The clean-up job was
:17:01. > :17:05.certainly shockingly expensive. total, it was just under nine
:17:05. > :17:09.tonnes of waste meat there. We didn't just clear it, we cleaned it
:17:09. > :17:12.off, as well. We had to jet it all down. The whole job cost us nearly
:17:12. > :17:17.�5,000. Five grand of public money to clean up after a van thief!
:17:17. > :17:20.Disgusting. And the filthy scoundrel was never caught.
:17:20. > :17:26.didn't get any conviction. We didn't get any evidence as to say
:17:26. > :17:30.who had done it. I'm quite grateful that these sort of jobs are the
:17:30. > :17:34.extreme and it's the only one I've had to deal with because it's a lot
:17:34. > :17:37.of money just to spend on one job. Well, for your sake, Bob, we all
:17:37. > :17:40.hope it's a one-off. This random dump of animal carcasses became the
:17:40. > :17:43.council's responsibility because the tip was found on public land.
:17:43. > :17:46.However, fellow grime fighter Rob was called in to help in a case
:17:46. > :17:52.where fly-tipping was costing a private company so much money they
:17:52. > :17:55.started to do their own surveillance. This fly-tip is on
:17:55. > :17:59.private land and it's something that the council won't clear up, so
:17:59. > :18:02.it brooks the business to remove it. And what he's done is he's put some
:18:02. > :18:09.cameras in. This camera system has cost over �1,200 to implement, so
:18:09. > :18:11.that's a big cost to a business that's been here for over 30 years.
:18:11. > :18:15.And it wasn't long before Big Brother captured some villains
:18:15. > :18:18.brazenly dumping a load of household waste. Somebody clearly
:18:18. > :18:21.didn't like their bedroom furniture very much. Frustratingly, the
:18:21. > :18:24.camera didn't pick up a registration number, but luck and
:18:24. > :18:31.the brass neck cheek of the same fly-tippers was on the company's
:18:31. > :18:35.side. A few days later, the vehicle actually came back to this
:18:35. > :18:40.particular area. They've come round the back of the property looking
:18:40. > :18:43.for an area to dump. They found a perfect area, which is out of the
:18:43. > :18:53.way. One of them actually looks around the area to check out if
:18:53. > :18:54.
:18:54. > :19:03.They think there are no cameras there. They've dumped it, and then
:19:03. > :19:06.And there it is, a completely clear registration number. Result! And
:19:06. > :19:12.the pictures confirm it's the same vehicle as the first dump because
:19:12. > :19:16.both show an identically dented van. You've been framed, guys, and for
:19:16. > :19:20.what? You could be facing a hefty fine just for dumping a small, dead
:19:20. > :19:25.conifer. It was good news for the company, though, because they had
:19:25. > :19:28.enough evidence to pass to the council for investigation. Rob
:19:28. > :19:33.found the address where the white van was registered and immediately
:19:33. > :19:36.sets out to interview the owner. Without this CCTV evidence, or
:19:36. > :19:39.without any evidence at all, for flight tips we're unable to
:19:39. > :19:49.investigate it, unless we've got a witness. And so, yes, it's a really
:19:49. > :19:51.
:19:51. > :19:57.important part. I really enjoy this He's at the house on the van's
:19:57. > :20:07.registration document. But there's no one in it. The next step is to
:20:07. > :20:13.How are you doing? Are you all right? I'm from Doncaster Council.
:20:13. > :20:16.Has he got a white van, do you know? A white Citroen van? No.
:20:16. > :20:20.You've not seen that in the back? Cheers for your help. I'm just
:20:20. > :20:25.going to go round the back to see whether there's anything there.
:20:25. > :20:28.Excuse me, sir, sorry to bother you. I'm from Doncaster Council. This
:20:28. > :20:35.property here, have you ever seen a white Citroen van outside here
:20:35. > :20:42.before? I've never seen it. you've not seen this van? All right,
:20:42. > :20:44.then. Not to worry. Thanks for your time, anyway. Cheers. It appears
:20:45. > :20:48.that the neighbours say they've never seen a white Citroen Replay
:20:48. > :20:52.van outside this guy's property, so it looks as if he's sold this van
:20:53. > :20:57.on. So, if we could find out where he's sold it on to, that's the next
:20:57. > :21:02.step in the investigation. whoever lives here is completely
:21:02. > :21:06.innocent. It's the new owner of the van that Rob wants to speak to now.
:21:06. > :21:09.Rob leaves a note at the address asking him to get in touch. A
:21:09. > :21:19.frustrating beginning, but Rob is still working on the case in the
:21:19. > :21:22.
:21:22. > :21:27.We're off to the coast now and the picturesque Fairlight Downs in East
:21:27. > :21:30.Sussex, near where the Battle of Hastings was fought. But amongst
:21:30. > :21:33.these rolling downs, a modern-day battle is being waged against a
:21:33. > :21:40.dirty rotten fly-tipper who's left a huge mound of rubbish in a
:21:40. > :21:42.bridleway at the bottom of a hill. Environmental Enforcement Officer
:21:42. > :21:52.and pivotal filth fighter for Rother Council Mike Hutton has come
:21:52. > :21:58.
:21:58. > :22:07.What exactly lurks in this lot? lot of builders' rubble, a lot of
:22:07. > :22:12.Even an old microwave in here. It looks like a lot of domestic
:22:12. > :22:22.rubbish, as well. Well, we've got the lot here. I think that counts
:22:22. > :22:23.
:22:23. > :22:26.as a full house. Totally blocking It's such a shame finding a fly-tip
:22:26. > :22:30.in this area because it's obviously an area of outstanding natural
:22:30. > :22:37.beauty. We're right on the edge of Hastings Country Park here and
:22:37. > :22:42.adjoining National Trust property. Criminal dumping in an area of
:22:42. > :22:48.outstanding natural beauty breaks my heart. And local residents are
:22:48. > :22:53.rightly up in arms. When I first saw the fly-tipping here it made me
:22:53. > :22:56.very angry, and also very sad. I have seen at times even glowworms
:22:57. > :23:01.down there, so it's a very precious and a rather special site. It's
:23:01. > :23:04.spoiled what is a very beautiful amenity for this part of Sussex.
:23:04. > :23:10.Quite right. Maggie Sullivan was so wild she decided to do some
:23:10. > :23:16.detective work of her own and found a vital clue in the rubbish. This
:23:16. > :23:19.was actually in there. It was, yes. You found this in the tip? That's
:23:19. > :23:22.brilliant. It's a replacement note. It actually has got a name and
:23:22. > :23:26.address on it, which is all brilliant stuff. As a tax payer,
:23:26. > :23:29.I'm quite appalled. We spend a lot of money on our refuse collection.
:23:29. > :23:34.I don't feel we should foot the bill for these fly-tippers. I think
:23:34. > :23:37.it's a disgrace. That's great. Thanks ever so much. Thank you. Bye.
:23:37. > :23:40.I'm not surprised she's upset, considering Rother Council does
:23:40. > :23:46.foot the bill for this ugly crime, to the tune of the �80,000 last
:23:46. > :23:49.year. Maggie's evidence could lead Mike to the owner of the rubbish.
:23:49. > :23:52.He's determined to collar someone for this and he wants more clues.
:23:52. > :23:58.It's actually a delivery note with a name and address on here, which
:23:58. > :24:01.is quite useful, which we can add to our evidence. So, more evidence,
:24:01. > :24:04.which is a result. This was clearly someone who wasn't worried about
:24:04. > :24:08.being found out. Did they misguidedly think their rubbish was
:24:08. > :24:11.being legitimately disposed of? Right, I mean, although we've got
:24:11. > :24:16.the same name and address cropping up time and time again on here,
:24:16. > :24:19.this may not be the person who's actually done the fly-tipping. They
:24:19. > :24:23.may well have paid somebody to do this for them. Obviously, we won't
:24:24. > :24:27.know this until we ask these people in for interview. We'll obviously
:24:27. > :24:31.ask them how this stuff ended up here with their name and address in
:24:31. > :24:36.it. Mike's got great evidence to follow up on, but first the
:24:36. > :24:40.rubble's got to be removed, and that doesn't come cheap. A fly-tip
:24:40. > :24:48.of this size, I imagine is going to cost in the region of �250 to �300
:24:48. > :24:53.to get cleared. What a waste. should be cleared tomorrow,
:24:53. > :24:56.hopefully. You catch the person. Well, let's hope so. I think Mike
:24:56. > :25:01.fully intends to. Over the next few days, Mike tracked down the person
:25:01. > :25:04.who appeared on all the paperwork. So, what we went and did was we
:25:04. > :25:07.paid the guy a visit, told them we've found this evidence in this
:25:07. > :25:10.fly-tip and the guy was horrified, because he'd actually paid somebody
:25:10. > :25:16.�130 to take all this stuff away for him. 130 quid the cheating
:25:16. > :25:19.dumper just pocketed. Luckily, he remembered the name of the guy. I
:25:19. > :25:23.think he got the registration of his van and we got the details of
:25:23. > :25:31.this guy. Mike's investigation was continuing and then he heard about
:25:31. > :25:38.another similar dump. A fly-tip was reported just a few miles from the
:25:38. > :25:44.other one. The dump's now been cleared, but it was quite a sight.
:25:44. > :25:47.Right, this is the scene of the fly-tip in Rock Lane. When we came
:25:47. > :25:51.down here rubbish was strewn probably a good 100 yards all along
:25:51. > :25:54.this lane. It looks like there was a bed dumped here with a load of
:25:54. > :25:58.bed linen. There was a load of broken up furniture. It looks like
:25:58. > :26:01.a lot of clothing, general domestic stuff. That looks like an old tent
:26:01. > :26:04.or something like that. Just all the sort of stuff you'd associate
:26:04. > :26:09.with a general house clearance. I don't believe it's quite the
:26:09. > :26:13.destination the owners of the rubbish had in mind. He just opened
:26:13. > :26:16.up the back of the truck, it's a tipper truck, tipped it as he was
:26:16. > :26:20.driving. He didn't even bother to stop, just tipped it all along the
:26:20. > :26:24.side of the road and this is why it was strewn over such a long area.
:26:24. > :26:30.Unbelievable! How low can you sink? The dumper seemed to be on a
:26:30. > :26:33.mission to deface some of the prettiest countryside. It's so
:26:33. > :26:40.picturesque around here and when you see rubbish and old towels and
:26:40. > :26:43.sheets and old books and things just laying in the road, it's awful.
:26:43. > :26:52.Again, there were plenty of documents to lead Mike to the owner
:26:52. > :26:54.We had a look amongst all this sort of stuff and we found quite a lot
:26:54. > :27:01.of correspondence, names and addresses, envelopes with names and
:27:01. > :27:04.addresses on, which are all linked to one person. That owner gave him
:27:04. > :27:08.details for a man who's offered to dispose of his rubbish for a tidy
:27:08. > :27:18.fee. Another case were an unsuspecting home owner thought
:27:18. > :27:18.
:27:18. > :27:23.their rubbish has been properly The reason these people dump their
:27:23. > :27:26.rubbish is they get paid cash. If they're going to take it to the
:27:26. > :27:29.amenity tip, they actually get charged to dump this stuff, so what
:27:29. > :27:32.they do is just dump it anywhere they can so it's not costing them
:27:33. > :27:35.anything. So, they can just take the cash, dump the rubbish and
:27:35. > :27:38.they've made themselves some money. Mike brought the suspect in for
:27:38. > :27:45.questioning and charged him with fly-tipping and not having a waste
:27:45. > :27:48.carrier's licence, offences which carry a maximum penalty of �20,000.
:27:48. > :27:51.However, if the owners of the rubbish hadn't been able to provide
:27:51. > :27:54.Mike with information, they would have been liable for the offence,
:27:55. > :28:01.so if you find yourself in the same situation, use your loaf and ask to
:28:01. > :28:05.see a waste carrier's licence. The last word should go to the local
:28:05. > :28:10.residents, determined to protect their beautiful part of the country.
:28:10. > :28:13.I don't know why they can't take it down the tip like we do.
:28:13. > :28:17.countryside is not a dumping ground. It should be taken care of and
:28:17. > :28:20.those that live here value it, and it's wrong. I think that they
:28:20. > :28:26.should be locked up in the stocks in our village and the local people
:28:26. > :28:31.would be able to throw rotten apples at them, basically. And I'll
:28:31. > :28:35.be first in the queue with that apple.
:28:35. > :28:38.Back now to the slippery issue of the problems we cause if we pour
:28:38. > :28:41.are old cooking fat down the sink. Now, I'm sure the images of those
:28:41. > :28:46.poor guys down the sewer chipping congealed fat off the walls made
:28:46. > :28:54.quite an impression. The lesson is, throw it in the bin or make a nice
:28:54. > :28:57.cake for the birds. But, down on the Sussex coast, a busy bus
:28:57. > :29:01.company has come up with an even more ingenious way of putting all
:29:01. > :29:04.that fat to good use. We're based in Brighton. We run 11 buses. We
:29:04. > :29:12.run on 100% recycled bio-diesel made from waste cooking oil which
:29:12. > :29:17.is all sourced from restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels etc. Brilliant!
:29:17. > :29:23.So, this Yellow Bus Company is totally green. The restaurants who
:29:23. > :29:26.supply us with their waste cooking oil are being quite generous. They
:29:26. > :29:29.could be giving their oil to other people who might give them nominal
:29:29. > :29:32.amounts of money for it, which we don't do. We give them advertising
:29:32. > :29:42.to our students on the buses. It all sounds like a well oiled
:29:42. > :29:49.And Marcus Fort is the man who goes out every day to collect the used
:29:49. > :29:52.cooking oil for the company. first job of the day is to hit a
:29:52. > :29:57.very nice Thai restaurant. They've changed their fryers and have asked
:29:57. > :30:07.for us to come round. Marcus has regular clients he visits in cafes,
:30:07. > :30:14.
:30:14. > :30:20.bars and restaurants all around the You can see how nice that oil is.
:30:20. > :30:25.It's clear, it's got no water in it, it's got no bits of food in it. You
:30:25. > :30:31.could just strain that once and put it straight in your tank.
:30:31. > :30:34.everyone's oil is liquid gold, though. Some containers have quite
:30:35. > :30:38.a high content of both water, which has to be got rid of, food waste,
:30:38. > :30:47.which clogs up the machinery and can't be used for being made into
:30:47. > :30:51.bio-diesel. And what we call whites, which is fat. Say if you're cooking
:30:51. > :30:54.a lot of duck, you'll get a lot of the animal fat going into the oil,
:30:54. > :31:01.and that manifests itself as a layer of white which sits between
:31:01. > :31:11.the water at the bottom and the oil on the top. And that white fat
:31:11. > :31:13.
:31:13. > :31:16.All right, so they're both full, that's 20 litres in each. That's 40
:31:16. > :31:19.litres. Sweet. Thank you so much for the coffees. Have a nice time.
:31:20. > :31:28.I'll see you probably in a week or two if the weather continues like
:31:28. > :31:31.this, yeah? Wham, bam! 40 litres smooth and by the numbers. Before
:31:31. > :31:34.people became concerned with going green, waste oil could be collected
:31:34. > :31:37.from restaurants by pig farmers who would mix it with feed and give it
:31:37. > :31:40.to their droves, but that became outlawed when the Government
:31:40. > :31:43.decided that animals couldn't be fed with other animal products. Now,
:31:43. > :31:46.because of that and the dangers of putting oil down the sink,
:31:46. > :31:52.restaurants have to give their waste oil to a licensed carrier,
:31:52. > :31:55.and this scheme makes business as well as environmental sense. It's
:31:55. > :32:00.very important to people at restaurants in Brighton that all
:32:00. > :32:03.the waste oil is recycled. It's not only recycled, but it's used to run
:32:03. > :32:07.the buses. They're picking up 60, 80, 100 litres every week, which is
:32:07. > :32:12.a lot of oil to get rid of, and for it to be re-used for something good
:32:12. > :32:15.in Brighton is fantastic. As well as collecting waste oil, this
:32:15. > :32:18.clever Brighton bunch also deliver fresh supplies for restaurants to
:32:18. > :32:25.cook with which, in turn, comes back to the company to be converted
:32:25. > :32:29.into green fuel for the yellow buses. A slick operation. Did you
:32:29. > :32:39.see what I did there? This is the empty container which I take back,
:32:39. > :32:41.
:32:41. > :32:46.and then I circulate his oil and I Cheers, then. See next week. Good
:32:46. > :32:52.luck! Good! And done for the day collecting. Now we'll take it all
:32:52. > :32:55.to Mill Farm to get it transferred, and they'll make it into bio-diesel.
:32:55. > :33:00.But before Marcus can get on to converting the oil into bio-fuel,
:33:00. > :33:03.there's one more process to go through. He has to filter the used
:33:03. > :33:12.oil to get rid of any unnecessary nasties, using a traffic cone, of
:33:12. > :33:15.course! I mean, what else? It pours out like that. There's the water
:33:15. > :33:20.and food waste that I was talking about. That's all been caught in
:33:20. > :33:26.this filter, which I'll then get rid of. You get really obsessed
:33:26. > :33:36.with what's nice oil and what's not. Knowing the gang that we got this
:33:36. > :33:41.So that goes in and that's clear and it's all oil, with the odd bit
:33:42. > :33:44.of burned food in it. If there was another oil collector next to me,
:33:44. > :33:52.we'd both be commenting, "Yeah, that's the stuff, that's what we
:33:52. > :33:56.like!". And once the used oil has been filtered, the nifty process of
:33:56. > :34:02.converting it into bio-fuel can really begin. Now, pens and paper
:34:02. > :34:06.at the ready, I'm going to test you on this afterwards. All right, this
:34:06. > :34:15.is the bio-diesel processing plant. Waste cooking oil is transferred
:34:15. > :34:20.into that holding tank. That goes into a bath.
:34:20. > :34:23.FILM IS SPEEDED UP SO WORDS CAN'T BE HEARD.
:34:23. > :34:26.And that goes for an hour at a temperature of 86 degrees. Did you
:34:26. > :34:29.get that, everyone? Simple, really. This is the finished bio-diesel.
:34:29. > :34:33.It's clear, it's orange and it's got a smell quite unlike anything
:34:33. > :34:37.else I've ever smelled. Slightly chemical, but not at all like waste
:34:37. > :34:42.cooking oil. It started its life as this, which is the waste cooking
:34:42. > :34:46.oil. Everyone knows what that smells like. Quite fantastic,
:34:46. > :34:50.really. You're right, Marcus, it is pretty impressive. And it must feel
:34:50. > :34:54.good to help save the planet as your day job. The best thing about
:34:54. > :35:00.this job is the fact that I feel like I'm really working for the
:35:00. > :35:02.good guys, trying to do everything sustainably. Even just analysing
:35:03. > :35:06.whether or not something is sustainable is quite fun and a
:35:06. > :35:10.worthwhile pursuit in this day and age, I think, if you care about the
:35:10. > :35:20.future of the planet. Oh, we do, Marcus, we do. Now, if you'll
:35:20. > :35:25.
:35:25. > :35:29.accept the honour, I'd like to But now to someone with an even
:35:29. > :35:35.more elevated title. This is the story of the man who became known
:35:35. > :35:38.as Britain's worst fly-tipper. And here he is in action. 36 year old
:35:38. > :35:44.Marcus Bairstow, a serial scoundrel who blighted Southampton for two
:35:44. > :35:52.years with his outrageous rubbish dumping. Dumping that cost the
:35:52. > :35:56.council a whopping �50,000 to clear up. It all started in 2008 with a
:35:56. > :35:59.flurry of reports of fly-tipping across Southampton. Council
:35:59. > :36:04.officers started mapping out the trail of waste that was being
:36:04. > :36:06.dumped across the city on a daily basis. We had our city patrol
:36:06. > :36:09.officers carrying out investigations and very quickly
:36:09. > :36:12.they concluded that this was being carried out on a commercial basis,
:36:12. > :36:22.not just ordinary residents, and that one person and one person only
:36:22. > :36:22.
:36:22. > :36:26.was responsible for dumping this One personal fly-tipping every day
:36:26. > :36:32.in a different place. That's an unbelievable amount of rubbish and
:36:32. > :36:35.an unbelievably brazen operation. And you haven't even heard the half
:36:35. > :36:45.of it. Bairstow was charging innocent businesses a pretty penny
:36:45. > :36:48.for the so-called services he provided. The people Bairstow had
:36:48. > :36:52.taken the rubbish from had paid a significant amount to him for the
:36:52. > :36:55.disposal of it, not knowing that it was going to be dumped a few miles
:36:55. > :36:58.away instead of being disposed of legally. But now comes the most
:36:58. > :37:02.shocking part of this whole story. Nowhere was off limits for this
:37:03. > :37:12.shameless scoundrel to dump his rubbish. Prepare yourselves, then
:37:13. > :37:13.
:37:13. > :37:18.I'm not sure 'filthy' and 'rotten' are strong enough words to describe
:37:18. > :37:22.the person who would do this. is the rubbish that first appeared
:37:22. > :37:29.over in the gravel area behind me. And it gradually spilled out into
:37:29. > :37:32.the main tarmac area, all adjacent to the graves. We were faced with a
:37:32. > :37:35.bill of nearly �2,000 for the removal of this rubbish. We also
:37:35. > :37:39.had asbestos to clear, which had to be done by another specialist
:37:40. > :37:45.company. The heartless rogue had even dumped broken asbestos sheets
:37:45. > :37:50.next to the church, a cancer causing killer. It beggars belief,
:37:50. > :37:53.doesn't it? Well, dumping your rubbish anywhere is an anti-social
:37:53. > :37:55.act, but to dump it next to a cemetery on consecrated ground is
:37:55. > :38:04.particularly insensitive and completely against the feelings of
:38:05. > :38:12.people visiting graves. I've never seen so much rubbish dumped. It's
:38:12. > :38:16.absolutely, totally disgraceful. brought tears to my eyes when I saw
:38:16. > :38:20.that fly-tipping there. I mean, Millbrook Church is a beautiful
:38:20. > :38:23.church. Cue some divine intervention in the form of a tip-
:38:23. > :38:25.off to the council from an anonymous caller who had taken the
:38:25. > :38:30.registration number of a truck they'd seen driving away from the
:38:30. > :38:37.churchyard. But the council needed indisputable evidence linking Mr
:38:37. > :38:43.Bairstow with the crime. The chase was on and they were closing in on
:38:43. > :38:49.their man. OK, this is an unadopted footpath, and this is another site
:38:49. > :38:54.of Mr Bairstow's handiwork. My staff are responsible for gathering
:38:54. > :39:01.evidence to prepare for court cases. They will sift through mountains of
:39:01. > :39:04.rubbish in order to find any relevant information. And in this
:39:04. > :39:07.case, Mr Bairstow had not been very careful with the rubbish that he'd
:39:07. > :39:12.left and he did leave us fairly substantial clues as to where it
:39:12. > :39:16.had come from. In the pile of smashed up debris, they found
:39:16. > :39:19.flyers from a small business in the Shirley area of Southampton. Then
:39:19. > :39:23.council investigators got the breakthrough they needed to crack
:39:23. > :39:26.this case. When they checked CCTV footage from a street camera nearby,
:39:26. > :39:33.they found they had a perfect shot of Bairstow's truck parked outside
:39:33. > :39:40.the same business that the flyers came from. And witnesses saw him
:39:40. > :39:44.loading up. He was seen to be removing items such as cardboard
:39:44. > :39:47.boxes, the business flyers, some metal tubing. And when officers
:39:47. > :39:53.compared those items captured on camera with the fly-tip dumped in
:39:53. > :39:56.the alleyway, bingo! They had the missing part of the jigsaw.
:39:56. > :40:02.identified that this was some of the rubbish that was taken away
:40:02. > :40:07.from the small business in Shirley. Gotcha! Now, that's what I call
:40:07. > :40:09.solid evidence. End of story? Not a bit of it. In yet another shocking
:40:09. > :40:19.twist, investigators discovered that fly-tipping was only half of
:40:19. > :40:21.
:40:21. > :40:24.Bairstow's lucrative scheme. thing that we found quite
:40:24. > :40:27.despicable was that Mr Bairstow would not only dump his loads of
:40:27. > :40:31.rubbish in an area, he would later go back, find the landowner and
:40:31. > :40:34.then offer his services to get that rubbish cleared again. So, in
:40:34. > :40:42.effect, he was getting a double whammy and we found that quite
:40:42. > :40:45.appalling behaviour. Too right, Ken. The bare-faced cheek of it. Ken's
:40:45. > :40:49.officers were constantly scouting the city for more evidence of
:40:49. > :40:53.Bairstow's crimes, building a solid case against him. And, luckily for
:40:53. > :41:00.them, our man was about to make a mistake that would seal his future
:41:00. > :41:04.and, put it this way, it's not looking rosy. OK, we're now in the
:41:04. > :41:07.middle of an industrial estate in Norgrove in Southampton. He
:41:07. > :41:12.actually dumped the load along this grey car park on the right hand
:41:12. > :41:16.side. This site can actually be seen very clearly, both from the
:41:16. > :41:20.road here on my left, and also there are various CCTV cameras in
:41:20. > :41:27.close proximity. So, Mr Bairstow had no qualms or anything dumping
:41:27. > :41:30.the rubbish here in full view of all the local businesses. Careless,
:41:30. > :41:38.but at least he gave the case for the prosecution a nice clear
:41:38. > :41:43.picture. Thanks, Marcus! These people, they go to people's places,
:41:44. > :41:49.they say, yeah, yeah, I've got the licence to take a rubbish. They pay
:41:49. > :41:52.him �100, �150 to take their rubbish and he just dumps it. I
:41:52. > :41:56.really hope these people are brought to court and they go to
:41:56. > :42:01.prison over this. Well, consider you wish granted. Because of the
:42:01. > :42:04.work of Ken and his colleagues. Mr Bairstow was found guilty of six
:42:04. > :42:11.counts of fly-tipping, three breaches of duty of care and one of
:42:11. > :42:14.failing to provide information. Bairstow got a two and a half year
:42:14. > :42:18.sentence, I think, but that was reduced to two years in the end.
:42:18. > :42:21.But he also got a five year ASBO which means he can't carry any
:42:21. > :42:26.waste in a van anywhere in the country. Result! Britain's worst
:42:26. > :42:29.fly-tipper behind bars. Sadly, there are plenty more where he came
:42:29. > :42:34.from. But, luckily, there's a nationwide team of people working