The court was told one black bin bag was dumped on the street in the belief it would be collected

A Birmingham carer dumped a bag of rubbish on a city road during the bin strikes because he believed it was a drop off point for mobile collections.

Keron Chambers, aged 59, of Sladefield Road, Birmingham, admitted driving to Ward End Park Road and dumping one black bin bag from a Mercedes without having a necessary permit on April 2 2025.

At a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court on Thursday, September 24, Chambers said he had looked up information on where rubbish could be taken during the refuse workers dispute with the city council.

He said this research found that location and gave the date of collection for later that day.

Hannan Aurangzeb, prosecuting for Birmingham City Council, said the authority had received a complaint about the incident, leading to an investigation and a fixed penalty notice issued to Chambers, which was not paid.

He said: “Fly-tipping is a significant, growing problem nationally and in Birmingham. It puts a strain on local authorities and results in substantial costs for cleaning up.

“Even small scale incidents cause harm, can attract rodents, pose a risk to health and cause damage to communities.

“When one person fly-tips, others think they can fly-tip at that location. The defendant flagrantly disregarded the law.”

Chambers, who told the court he is an unpaid carer for two people in Birmingham, said he and another person went to the location.

He said: “This happened when the bin strikes were on. We checked on our phones and it said where you can put your rubbish and what times it will be collected.

“We saw Ward End Park Road as where the collection point is and that the collection was taking place on the same day. We put on bag down and then drove off.”

Magistrates handed Chambers a community order which requires him to do 40 hours of unpaid work. He also has to pay a surcharge of £114.