The London Borough of Barnet has claimed to be one of the first authorities in the UK to use new legislation to successfully take a suspected fly-tipper to court. The authority processed an average of 5,000t of dumped large-scale construction and demolition waste during 2004 and the immediately preceding years, but has since cut that figure to zero, following a crackdown by the fly-tipping enforcement team. The council, together with the police and other agencies, carry out spot checks of vehicles, on average, once a fortnight, specifically looking for potential fly-tippers under the Control of Pollution Act. As a result of one of these checks earlier this year, Michael Kerrigan, of Barnet, who was found guilty at Barnet Magistrates’ Court last week of transporting household waste without being registered with the Environment Agency. The council brought the prosecution against Kerrigan when he was stopped while driving a Ford tipper fully loaded with household and building waste on the North Circular Road at Brent Cross. He was fined £700 and ordered to pay costs. Graham Perrior, fly-tipping investigations manager for the council, said: ‘We had powers to prosecute for this for a couple of years. This case was a cut-and-dried one, because Kerrigan admitted to us he was not registered with the Environment Agency, so we thought we would go ahead with the prosecution. ‘I doubt it will be the last.’ Perrior added that enforcement officers from Barnet often participated with the police in neighbouring areas when operations were taking place nearby to further deter potential fly-tippers. John Seddon, Environment Agency senior enforcement officer, praised the council’s intervention. He said: ‘Barnet is at the forefront of this type of action and it’s great to see the council making fly-tipping such a priority. ‘The message is simple. If you transport waste from your business or transport waste, you need a licence.’