Woman fined £614 for fly-tipping next to Manchester Etihad football stadium said ‘the tip was shut’

A woman caught fly-tipping next to Manchester’s Etihad football stadium said she did it because ‘the tip was shut in the middle of the scamdemic’ as she is fined £614. 

Keighley Whyte, 27, was caught on council CCTV driving a Fiat Punto next to Manchester City’s stadium on June 11, 2020, after the first lockdown began to ease. 

She pleaded guilty to fly-tipping last Friday and was ordered to pay a total of £614 for the offence by Manchester and Salford Magistrates Court last Friday.  

In the CCTV, a car parked up and two females got out of the car, dumped rubbish onto the side of the road, and then drove off. 

After her fly-tipping received a backlash on Facebook, she leapt to her defence saying: ‘The tip was shut in the middle of the scamdemic’. 

But the 27-year-old later appeared to backtrack from her earlier comments and fully apologised.  

On Facebook, Whyte, of Tartan Street, Clayton, defended her actions saying: ‘The tip was shut.  [It] was in the middle of the scamdemic. 

‘I [threw] a bit of cardboard with my name on and had to pay for 50 other peoples rubbish and all.’

But many people did not see it that way. 

Kevin Jarvis said: ‘Yet, millions of other people managed’ 

Cathy Hancock said: ‘If it was just cardboard like she said why not put it with recycling bin. Just an excuse.’  

Tony Ballington said: ‘Why are you trying to justify breaking the law? 

‘Other people managed and didn’t break the law. 

‘You were lucky with the £614 in fines, in some councils the fine could’ve been in the thousands and your Punto siezed and crushed.’ 

While another Facebook user pointed out that that tips opened on 2 May 2020, a month before Whyte dumped her rubbish. 

Jacob Bonner said: ‘Keighley Whyte Instead of getting defensive, why don’t you take responsibility for what you did? 

‘Realise that although all the rubbish isn’t yours, your own actions implicated you. Just do better in the future? 

‘Because right now, you look obnoxious and you’ve made it clear you’d do it again. 

‘Truly, I want to believe it was a stupid mistake that you regret and have learnt from. But that’s not what’s coming across.’

Whyte then replied: ‘I take responsibility for what I’ve done. I just can’t stand them people who have so much time on their hands to comment.’ 

Waste management company Biffa, working on behalf of Manchester City Council, visited the site near New Viaduct Street and evidence from the dumped rubbish linked back to Whyte. 

Further investigation then showed that the Fiat Punto used to fly-tip the rubbish was registered to Whyte.

Whyte failed to attend an initial court hearing for the offence with a warrant being issued leading to her arrest.

Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, Manchester City Council’s executive member for Neighbourhoods, said: ‘This is an environmental crime that doesn’t make sense on any level. Not only is it an unnecessary cost to the council, and hence the taxpayer, it was an expensive way for this woman to get rid of rubbish when she could have taken it for free to a local tip.

‘Once again, we want to send a message to anyone who thinks they can get away with blighting our environment, we will not tolerate fly-tipping in the city, and we will continue to bring prosecutions to court to show that this behaviour is not acceptable in our city.’