Fly-tipper who dumped 51 tonnes of tyres jailed
Date of alert:
Tuesday, 7 June 2022
Crime Ref:
Force:
Police Scotland
A fly-tipper who dumped 51 tonnes of tyres on waste ground has been jailed for 11 months.
Declan Clarke, 30, from Dumbarton, collected the tyres from places such as garages for a fee and then dumped them in car parks and empty land around Glasgow.
Prosecutors said the vast majority of the tyres were dumped at Dalsetter Crescent in Drumchapel and were consumed in a fire on July 24 2020.
It caused so much smoke it disrupted flights at Glasgow Airport.
Two days later, the remnants were cleared by Glasgow City Council workers.
They found the debris consisted of 51 tonnes of tyres and 17 tonnes of household waste.
Around 500 tyres were dumped at Gartloch Farm, near Gartcosh to the east of Glasgow, between October 8 and 22, 2020 while more tyres were deposited there on November 13 the same year.
Clarke pleaded guilty to depositing controlled waste, namely used tyres, on or in land otherwise than in accordance with a waste management licence, in breach of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, at a previous court hearing in April.
He was sentenced to 11 months behind bars when he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court for sentencing on Wednesday, the Crown Office said.
Sergeant Nigel McDonald of Police Scotland said afterwards Clarke was “an opportunistic criminal using his illegitimate business to collect tonnes of rubbish for a fee before just dumping them across the city”.
