A shop owner who paid a third party to dispose of some rubbish has been fined after a large amount of his store's rubbish was found dumped in a lay-by.

A large amount of shop waste was found in London Road, Wymondham.

When South Norfolk Council's street cleaning team arrived to collect it, they undertook a thorough search of the rubbish for clues of where it came from.

They successfully found evidence linking it back to City Road Convenience Store, in Norwich,

Sivakumar Sinnasamy, the owner of the shop, told the council's community protection team that he had paid a third party to remove his waste - but had not checked if they were a Registered Waste Carrier, or asked for an invoice or waste transfer note.

He also failed to ask where his waste would be taken.

At the hearing held last week at Norwich Magistrates' Court, the owner was found guilty of two offences under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 34 and section 35(6) of The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.

The offences were that, firstly, that he failed to take all such measures to prevent any person fly tipping his commercial waste and, secondly, that he failed to furnish copies of all waste transfer notes/written description relating to the transfer of controlled waste from the business known as City Road Convenience Store.

He was ordered to pay South Norfolk Council £390 in compensation for the cost of clearance and £2,350 for the full costs of the investigation and prosecution.

South Norfolk Council's director of growth and localism, Tim Horspole, said: 'Businesses and residents must take care to dispose of their waste responsibly.

'Using non-registered operators may seem like a cheap option, but your waste could end up blighting our beautiful countryside and costing taxpayers hundreds of pounds to clean-up, and ultimately, if you don't follow the proper steps you could end up in court with a hefty fine to pay.'

Advice for homeowners and business owners

South Norfolk Council's says that those arranging for anyone other than the local authority to collect any waste from their home, always carry out the following checks:

• Ask to see their waste carrier license issued by the Environment Agency - anyone removing waste from your property must have a license. To check a license contact the Environment Agency on 08708 506 506.

• Ask what is going to happen to your waste. You have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to prevent someone dumping your waste unlawfully.

• Record the vehicle registration numbers of any vehicle used by a private waste carrier to take your waste away. The waste carrier will be less likely to illegally dump your waste if aware that vehicle registration and details have been recorded. If waste is found dumped illegally and traced back to you, investigators will have more information to trace the culprits.

• Ask for a proper invoice and waste transfer note and get more than one quote - and expect to pay a reasonable fee. An unusually low quote, or an offer to take rubbish away for free in order to profit from any scrap metal that may be among it, should be treated with suspicion. Residents have ended up paying again to have their fly-tipped waste removed and disposed of correctly.

The Council is urging anyone who is approached by a rogue waste collector to try and get the vehicle plate number, a description of them, and report the incident to the Council free on 0808 168 2999.