A Wandsworth resident has been fined after being caught fly-tipping on a CCTV camera in Tooting.

The council’s enforcement officers discovered the offence while reviewing CCTV cameras and seeing a mass of household waste which had been illegally dumped.

The footage being found led enforcement officers to visit the home, which was a short distance from the fly-tip.

In Wandsworth, littering and fly-tipping fixed penalty notices range between £80 and £400 without discounts.

Councillor Jonathan Cook, cabinet member for environment, said: “Our enforcement officers are now using CCTV footage to help them with their investigations.

“By stepping up our enforcement action and imposing much stiffer penalties on those who dump rubbish, we aim to send out a really strong message to all those who think they can get away with spoiling our local environment.”

Residents are advised to be extremely wary of people who knock on their doors unannounced and offer to take away their rubbish.

“Cowboy” waste contractors are known to visit local areas and search for homes which are being refurbished or cleared, and usually approach the owner with an offer to remove the junk at a reduced rate.

However, this is usually not properly disposed of and instead dumped somewhere else.

In these cases, both the person who committed the offence and the householder who paid them to take away the waste are liable.

The council advises you to always check to see if a contractor is a licensed waste carrier and to ensure you receive a receipt stating ‘waste transfer note’ as proof.