Woman fined after dumping a trolley full of rubbish in a Gateshead street

A woman who dumped rubbish piled up in a shopping trolley has been fined hundreds of pounds.

Zoe Cowan, of Milton Square, Gateshead, was found guilty of failing to take measures to secure authorised transfer of household waste.

Paul Harris, an enforcement officer for Gateshead Council, told magistrates on Monday that the 38-year-old was caught out after neighbours complained to the authority in March.

Council officers then found documents in the rubbish dumped behind a garage block in the middle of her estate linking it to Cowan.

"We found waste had been dumped at the back of the garage block on Milton Square and a Tesco trolley rammed with more waste," he said.

"We looked through the waste and found her address on a prescription counterfoil."

Magistrates ordered Cowan to pay a £1,760 fine, £256 costs, £300 compensation to the council to cover clean up costs and a £170 victim surcharge.

Jill Brown, a solicitor for the council, said: "You have to put rubbish in a bin or make sure it is disposed of correctly.

"This was quite a nasty fly-tip, it is anti-social, unpleasant and does cause infestation problems."