crab traps your help needed

[Charlton]

Hi all
a lad is in need of your help, he is being prosecuted for fly tipping, the prosecution has said the tyres he has, is to many for getting bait and is fly tipping, don't know how many as yet but they are the first he has put out so it won't be many. His solicitor wants as many statements from anglers with crab traps. You can send them or email them to me.
Put your name and contact details on, number of tyres you have. If you want to post your statement to me, e mail me and I will send you my address. If you are a member of a club please get your members who have tyres to send me the same info, but whatever you do, do not give false information. THIS COULD HAVE WIDESPREAD RAMIFICATIONS FOR ALL WITH CRAB TRAPS.

Alan

[KeithB]

Alan,

Maybe I'm reading the above incorrectly, but if a lad is being prosecuted for having tyres in the river who in their right mind would admit to the same "offence" and supply their name & address?

[KeithB]

Can his solicitor not show them how many tyres are used as traps via Your web browser and the Maps site are incompatible etc.

e.g.

[Charlton]

Alan,

Maybe I'm reading the above incorrectly, but if a lad is being prosecuted for having tyres in the river who in their right mind would admit to the same "offence" and supply their name & address?

they have said the amount of tyres he was setting was fly tipping, he needs statements to show that anglers put out more than he does without any problem, and that they are for collecting bait. Can assure anybody their details will go no further than me. Will also suggest the google earth, although this is showing the exact location of tyres.

[KeithB]

Can his own address not form his defence? surely if he wanted to dump tyres there would be somewhere easier to dump them.

Why would anyone bother to set the tyres in the sand / river bed if they just wanted rid of them?

Madness!!!!

[codseeker]

a lost count of how many and mine are bathing wells for the wildlife birds on the river when the tides out

[Charlton]

a lost count of how many and mine are bathing wells for the wildlife birds on the river when the tides out

yes we know, can you please send me the details, name, contact info and number of tyres, if we don't help this lad to win his case then they will start looking elsewhere, surely you are not going to let the lad cop it.

Why would anyone bother to set the tyres in the sand / river bed if they just wanted rid of them?

the lads solicitor wants the information, all names and addresses and exact location will be kept by myself, and will make sure the solicotor does the same. He needs the info to prove that it is quite common for anglers to lots of traps.

[Charlton]

Hi all
have already contacted a few of you about this matter but concerns where raised about giving out names an addresses as some think it may back fire.
What it is, a lad was bust putting some tyres out for crab traps 70 tyres in all. The police thought this was far more than an angler needed to collect bait so they are saying it is fly tipping, as if a fly tipper would neatly put them in rows and dig them in. What his solicitor wants to prove is that what the police are saying isn't so, which we all know and some anglers have many more than that. If you have tyres for traps let me know how many and give me a phone number where you can be contacted just in case. this phone number will be kept by myself. If he is found guilty it could have a great impact on anglers using tyres as traps, or possibly traps in general.

please help

Alan

[jimmy]

i dont have traps out Alan, but heras a thought for you, we have a current serving police officer on the forum here, i wont mention his name in case he does`nt want it mentioned, but maybe he could be of some help seeing as he is a sea fisherman, with friends all over the area and probably some of those friends have traps out.Hope this is of some use

[codseeker]

theres a few cops on here jimmy and also quite a few on the bill here atm

[Topfly]

Alan , He only has to go down every low water to tend his tyres, this in itself proves he hasn't abandoned them, if he is a member of a national body, they will give him assistance. Hope it all works out in the end , thin end of the wedge and all that.

[Charlton]

i dont have traps out Alan, but heras a thought for you, we have a current serving police officer on the forum here, i wont mention his name in case he does`nt want it mentioned, but maybe he could be of some help seeing as he is a sea fisherman, with friends all over the area and probably some of those friends have traps out.Hope this is of some use

he also has tyres in the same vacinity I believe, waiting for him to contact me to see how many he has. Could prove very interesting

[mark]

Alan,

Maybe I'm reading the above incorrectly, but if a lad is being prosecuted for having tyres in the river who in their right mind would admit to the same "offence" and supply their name & address?

indeed a very tricky one, potentially the tip of an iceberg, assuming loads of people come forward saying I've got 'x' tyres, and he loses his case, it creates a nice precedent, and a ready list of victims to apply the precedent to

Is the impending prosecution being brought about by the environment agency or the council??

If its the latter, I reckon he's up sheet creek regardless of how many volunteers come forward, as once they get their teeth into a case they don't like losing. Wouldn't be surprised to see them try the 'that many constitutes unlicenced commercial activity' line as a frightener as well

and if he does loose, the costs could be staggering

[Charlton]

[QUOTE=mark;176751]indeed a very tricky one, potentially the tip of an iceberg, assuming loads of people come forward saying I've got 'x' tyres, and he loses his case, it creates a nice precedent, and a ready list of victims to apply the precedent to

if he loses his case they won't have the information, as all I am asking for is a name and how many Tyres, not a specific X. But I bet all the environment agencies etc know already as they patrol the rivers, and they don't seem bothered.

[mark]

[QUOTE=Charlton;176755]

indeed a very tricky one, potentially the tip of an iceberg, assuming loads of people come forward saying I've got 'x' tyres, and he loses his case, it creates a nice precedent, and a ready list of victims to apply the precedent to

if he loses his case they won't have the information, as all I am asking for is a name and how many Tyres, not a specific X. But I bet all the environment agencies etc know already as they patrol the rivers, and they don't seem bothered.

sorry alan, must have misread it, I thought that having written support from other crabbers was going to be part of the defence.... which would mean both parties having copies of it

you sure its 'fly tipping' he's potentially being prosecuted for?? was talking to one of my neighbours earlier tonight, he used to work for the council, and was involved in many cases of fly tipping, its a BIG problem out here

the law is pretty distinct on fly tipping, the key is 'abandonment of waste'

clearly if he's visiting the tyres regularly, there's no abandonment

but there was some new laws tagged on about storage and disposal of hazardous waste - and tyres are considered hazardous, thats why I asked about the environment agency

potentially tip of an iceberg with the impending mega bucks thats going to be spent on shields quayside, the gut, western quay etc