A man who let fly-tippers use a van he had rented has been hit with almost £700 in fines and legal costs.

Ionut Damian, 30, of Lawn Lane, Hemel Hempstead, allowed two men to take his Volkswagen Transporter to dump waste in Hogg End Lane, St Albans on September 16, 2017.

But CCTV footage captured the van and a BMW car parking in the fly-tipping hotspot.

St Albans District Council officers found the van was a rental vehicle and traced it to Damian.

At St Albans Magistrates’ Court on May 1, Damian denied being at the scene.

In a written statement he admitted letting his vehicle be used for the illegal transportation and fly-tipping of rubbish .

Damian said he was paid £40 by two men to use the van, which was then used to take and dump two electric heaters and wood by the roadside.

In a police interview he refused to identify the individuals involved in the fly-tip and later revealed the name of one man, but by that time that man had moved to Romania.

Damian was fined £100 and ordered to pay the council £407 compensation for waste removal costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

He was also ordered to contribute to prosecution costs of £150, making a total sum of £687.

Speaking after the hearing, Joe Tavernier, the council’s head of community services, said: “This is the third successful prosecution for a fly-tipping offence that we have brought this year.

“It demonstrates our determination to deter fly-tipping by tracing those responsible and taking action against them. It also shows that the measures we are taking to combat this anti-social crime, such as the use of cameras in hotspots, are effective.”