Erith Man Given Suspended Sentence for Dumping Waste Near Shoreham

A man has been given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work after dumping commercial waste down a country lane near Shoreham, in a case where investigators traced the rubbish back to him partly through an invoice left among it.

Mircea Mamai, 45, of Erith, pleaded guilty to fly-tipping offences at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court on 28 August. The dumping took place in February 2024 at Redmans Lane, near Castle Farm at Shoreham, where Sevenoaks District Council's Environmental Enforcement Team was called out to what it described as "commercial and potentially dangerous waste".

Among the dumped material, officers found an invoice from a scrap metal company that carried a vehicle registration number. That number was registered to Mamai, and the team then identified automatic number plate recognition footage placing the same vehicle close to the site the night before the waste appeared.

Gravesham Borough Council, which ran a joint investigation with Sevenoaks, found evidence that Mamai had fly-tipped elsewhere the same night, in Batts Road, Cobham. He was summoned to court several times between 2024 and 2026 but did not attend, before eventually appearing and pleading guilty to both cases.

He was handed a 28-week custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months, along with the 150 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay a total of £1,500 in compensation and costs split between the two councils.

Cllr Irene Roy, the council's Cabinet Member for Cleaner and Greener, said the team had traced the waste "by carefully going through" what had been dumped, and that fly-tipping "is illegal, and we will not tolerate it in our District". Fly-tipping can be reported through the council's website or by phone. Source: Sevenoaks District Council