A MAN who dumped mountains of tyres in a communal garden he shared with his neighbours has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Throughout April and May Stephen Bailey collected the used tyres from garages claiming he was starting a business transforming them into garden planters.

But the work was never done and a soon as Bolton Council removed the tyres from the gardens at Deane Church Lane and surrounding streets, more would appear.

Bolton Magistrates’ Court heard how, at one stage, Bailey, a 56-year-old former postman, acquired a run-down caravan which he left in a layby and filled with tyres.

The Bolton News: Tyres and caravan left in laybyTyres and caravan left in layby

Hamza Soren, prosecuting on behalf of Bolton Council, told the court: “The defendant’s activities have had no regard for the impact they have had on the local community.

“He used the communal garden to store the tyres. As quick as we could remove the tyres they were replaced by other tyres.

“The cost incurred has been extraordinary.”

He added that, in total, it has cost £6,876 to remove the tyres and the caravan and clean up the area.

Mr Soren told magistrates how Bolton Council’s environmental enforcement department were alerted to the tyres and on May 1 found 188 of them behind Bailey’s Irwell Valley rented home.

The Bolton News: Tyres dumped in the communal Deane Chruch Lane gardensTyres dumped in the communal Deane Chruch Lane gardens

Bailey arrived on the scene and the officers asked him about the tyre pile.

Mr Soren said: “He admitted the tyres belonged to him and before they could go further, he said, ‘What has it got to do with you? If I tell you about the tyres I will have to shoot you’.

“He then walked into the property and opened a first floor window, shouting, ‘Stop shouting, you’ll wake the hedgehogs’.”

Despite warnings Bailey persisted in dumping tyres and in court pleaded guilty to offences under the Environmental Protection Act, breaching a community protection notice, having no authority to transport controlled waste and abandoning a caravan on a highway.

The Bolton News: Tyres dumped in the streetTyres dumped in the street

Glen Wrigley, defending, told magistrates that Bailey had poor health, lost his job last year, split with his long term partner and had fallen into debt.

He added that garages would pay him to take their tyres away.

“Because of his desperation in relation to his finances, that’s what he was doing,” he said.

“He actually wanted to make some garden planters out of them but that never got off the ground at all.”

The Bolton News: Stephen BaileyStephen Bailey

Bailey was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £750 towards prosecution costs plus a £115 victim surcharge.

Chairman of the bench, Christopher Hallett, told him: “We believe this offence crosses the custody threshold and it was a deliberate act having been previously warned.”

Following the hearing, Bolton Council’s Executive Cabinet Member for Environmental Regulatory Services, Cllr Anne Galloway, said: “This a shocking example of an offender blighting a neighbourhood by treating a public space as his own personal storage yard.


“This man’s reckless actions have shown a complete disregard for his fellow residents, not only by creating an eyesore, but also by leaving a dangerous obstruction in the public highway.


“This council is committed to clamping down on crimes which harm our neighbourhoods and this is just the latest in a series of successful prosecutions against inconsiderate residents.”