SOME people can be rather brazen. The chap who dumped this huge pile of rubbish next to a big, unmissable, yellow “no tipping” sign could easily slip into this category.

Unfortunately for him he was caught in the act on camera.

Hard one to deny after that.

Fair play to the Environment Agency who wasted no time launching a full and thorough investigation, aided by the council who owned the land the waste was dumped on. And when he got to court he was hit incredibly hard in the pocket. To the tune of £7,000 in fact, when you include fine, costs and compensation.

Not such a good idea after all.

There’s no doubt Thurrock gets a rough deal with fly-tipping. There is clearly far too much of it going on far too often in the borough.

Interestingly an Environment Agency enforcement officer even went as far as to hint that maybe this latest offender got off a little lightly. He suggested prison was a feasible option and avoided only because it was single offence.

This tough-talking is welcome.

So let’s hope the authorities keep turning up the heat up on fly-tippers.

More successful cases should start to get into the public stream of consciousness and act as serious deterrents to those who think they can just get away with ruining areas with rubbish they can’t be bothered to dispose of properly.