Yate man ordered to pay more than £5,000 for abandoned vehicles

A man has been ordered to pay a total of £5,363 in fines and costs for keeping vehicles abandoned on a residential road. Daryl Wallington was found guilty of failing to breach a community protection notice relating to the storage of abandoned vehicles and was fined £2,500, ordered to pay costs of £1,863 and a victim surcharge of £1,000 of pounds sterling.

Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard South Gloucestershire Council first became aware of the 60-year-old’s activities from Yate in 2014 following reports of abandoned vehicles. Powers under the Refusal Facilities Act were used, which allowed the council to deal with some of the vehicles and alleviate the problems.

In February 2022, reports to the council began to increase again, particularly regarding Bredon of Yate. Site visits were carried out and seven vehicles were noted which appeared to be abandoned and without tax. Notices have been issued against each vehicle.

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A series of letters were sent to Wallington council acknowledging the vehicles in question, but it disputed that it owned the land and that the vehicles were not causing a nuisance. He claimed some would be removed soon, but appealed for more time.

The council responded by explaining the impact these vehicles were having on local residents due to their poor condition and quantity. Many residents said they feared the area would become unsafe due to broken windows, leaking fluids and the dangerous condition of vehicles, and felt the area had become unsightly, with house prices taking a hit.

They also reported being afraid of Wallington, whom they perceived as aggressive and unapproachable. And vehicles were taking up parking spaces, meaning families couldn’t park near their homes.

As the months passed, the number of vehicles began to increase rather than decrease, and Wallington was offered a number of opportunities to attend council offices to discuss the issue, but did not attend each time, offering often an excuse at the last minute. .

On 4 September 2023, a council officer made another site visit and issued Wallington with a Community Protection Warning (CPW) and informed him that any failure to comply would result in a CPN being issued. Wallington was urged to cooperate with an explanation as to why he had so many vehicles on the road and assistance was offered to resolve the matter for all involved. He agreed that he would go to the council offices and get in touch to arrange a time and date.

No contact was received from Wallington and on 17 October 2023 the officer made a further inspection of the area to determine whether the CPW had been complied with, but no action was taken. A Community Protection Notice (CPN) was then served on Wallington by hand delivery to his address, giving him a further seven days to complete the removal of the vehicles.

On December 11, 2023, officers visited the location again and explained to Wallington that he had not complied with the CPN and that he would be reported for a misdemeanor citation.

Officers subsequently carried out house-to-house inquiries to gather the views of local residents to help make an application for a Criminal Behavior Order against Wallington, should he be found guilty of breaching the CPN. At the May 13 hearing, the courts accepted CBO’s request and set a July 8 date for the evidentiary hearing.

Councilor Sean Rhodes, cabinet member for environment enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “We are pleased to see this case finally come to an end after a long period of time due to Wallington’s failure to engage with the council in relation to problems caused by his vehicles.

“The high volume of abandoned vehicles in this case was clearly a serious concern for other residents in the area, so I’m very pleased that we were able to bring this to trial.”