BARNSLEY residents have been urged to continue reporting instances of fly-tipping in order to provide ‘essential’ evidence to officers investigating the crime.

Following the successful conviction of unlicensed waste carrier Liam Watkinson last week, who plied for trade via social networking site Facebook before dumping waste, Barnsley Council’s Safer Neighbourhood Service manager Mark Giles appealed for more people to come forward with information about others.

“If we receive a report about a suspected fly-tipper we’ll do all we can to secure a conviction,” he told the Chronicle. “The case involving Liam Watkinson was a good result as it resulted in a big fine and a suspended prison sentence, which sends out a strong message.

“We do want to see prosecutions become a regular occurrence and we have more vehicle seizures belonging to fly-tippers in the pipeline.

“We do act on what the public tell us so we want them to give us any information which may lead to an offender’s identity being uncovered, but a witness statement is essential.

“We won’t ever get complacent on fly-tipping and will do all we can to stop this happening in Barnsley. There’s a big interest in cases in the town because there’s a common interest between residents and the council - everyone is on the same page and wants this to stop.

“The message to tippers is to stop. If they don’t, we will catch them and if they’re willing to do the crime they will be robustly dealt with.”

Click here to report an incident online.