An illegal scrap dealer who told council officers to try and catch him has been fined.
Lee Robinson, of Carlisle, was spotted collecting scrap from a business in Penrith in January.
Although he is known in north Cumbria as a scrap metal dealer, Westmorland and Furness Council said Robinson had repeatedly requested scrap metal collection licenses in Eden over the past few years, but never submitted a completed application form.
A spokesman said: “Instead, officers were subjected to verbal confrontations when trying to assist him, and in one instance, Robinson even challenged officers to ‘try and catch him’.”
He was prosecuted by the authority for the unauthorised collection from Cowper Road on the Gilwilly Industrial Estate.
He submitted a guilty plea and was fined by magistrates in Carlisle.
Council officers used police-provided CCTV footage as evidence and a spokesman added that Robinson’s social media posts also inadvertently revealed the location of his illicit scrap metal collection site.
Collaborating with the North West waste team at the Environment Agency, the council’s environmental enforcement officers gained access to transaction records, which revealed the substantial volume of scrap metal Robinson had traded over the past six months, plus the significant profits he had accrued.
Robinson was ordered to pay a total of £1,725.
Councillor Dyan Jones, cabinet member for customer and waste services at Westmorland and Furness Council, said: “We are pleased with this result following a long investigation into an unlicensed scrap metal collector regularly coming to this area, knowingly taking scrap metal without a licence.
“The persistence of the Westmorland and Furness team and the challenges they faced gathering evidence for a successful prosecution is by no means a small achievement in this case.
“This case demonstrates how agencies work collaboratively, communicating and sharing knowledge to investigate all possible avenues in order that waste offenders, such as this, will be successfully prosecuted.
“Businesses and households must ensure that their scrap metal, like all other waste, is collected and disposed of by licenced operators only. Checking collectors’ license status will discourage unlicenced individuals who purposely choose to disregard the law and deny earnings from responsible, licenced dealers.”
