IF YOU’RE feeling too lazy to take your rubbish to the council tip, don’t be tempted to dump your waste on a country lane like these two men.

West Oxfordshire District Council has got so fed up with spending £50,000 a year clearing up fly-tipped waste, it is now using hidden CCTV cameras to get successful convictions at court.

Used at a notorious spot along Stanton Harcourt Lane, on the outskirts of Witney, one camera has captured a handyman and a welder brazenly emptying out garden waste and rubble from the backs of their vehicles.

Their failure to go to council tip, just a 10 minute drive away, has now cost them each a hefty £750 in fines and costs.

Both men admitted to flytipping at Banbury Magistrates’ Court.

Erich Kowalski, of Hurst Lane, Freeland, was caught on camera shovelling soil from his car onto the roadside on June 24.

The 54-year-old handyman told the court he was in a hurry to get to his next job and did not have time to visit the nearby tip to deposit the waste from digging out a pool.

Sentencing Kowalski, Helen Robins, chairman of the bench, said: “We understand the costs to the taxpayer and the council for this type of activity, and it’s not acceptable.”

John Whitehill, of Eastfield Road, Witney, dumped several bags of hedge cuttings at the same spot at 6am on June 20.

The 49-year-old welder told the court that he was embarrassed by what he had done. Mrs Robins ordered both men to pay a £240 fine, along with costs of £501.48. They must also each pay a victim surcharge of £15.

The council installed cameras in Stanton Harcourt Lane after 25 reported fly tip incidents since January.

Adrian Cole, one of two environmental enforcement officers employed by the district council to catch flytippers, said: “When we discover there is a need and we are losing out on convictions as we cannot prove them, then the cameras are definitely worth it.”

Since the cameras were bought in two other people have been issued with £80 fixed penalty notices.

They have also been used by other teams in the council, such as in operations to catch benefit cheats.

Mr Cole said: “I think it’s important to show that with the modern technology we have now with the CCTV cameras, we are able to put them into action to identify people.

“We would like to put the message out to people that these cameras are available and we will use them.”

The district council now plans to put up signs warning people that CCTV cameras are in use.

The cameras are moved every three months to places identified as hotspots for flytipping.

In 2008/09 there were 611 reports of flytipping compared to 736 the previous year.