A bungling fly-tipper complained that he had to book a slot at the tip after being caught on camera.

The Ashford man was handed a fine after being spotted on CCTV dumping his rubbish near a local business's bin.

At the end of January the elderly offender drove his Mercedes 4x4 into the business's private car park.

He then removed a large bag of waste and dumped it at the side of the bin before driving away.

Unbeknownst to him, the owner of the business had endured constant fly-tipping to the point where he had installed a CCTV camera to deter offenders.

The footage of the incident was duly sent to Ashford Borough Council (ABC), who summoned the registered keeper of the car for an interview under caution.

During the interview the driver was asked why he did not dispose of his waste using the local recycling centre.

He replied: “Well you have to book a slot," before going on to claim that he thought the bin belonged to the council even though it was clearly marked as belonging to a non-council waste collection service.

The excuse was not enough to allow him to escape from a £400 fixed penalty notice for the offence.

The incident was one of three fly-tipping cases that have been prosecuted across Ashford and Tenterden recently.

This included a driver who was fined after being caught on CCTV dumping a large quantity of waste behind Tenterden Leisure Centre.

When questioned, He told officers he thought that the construction site behind the centre was a waste recycling site. He was issued with a £400 fine.

Finally, earlier this month, a man who was caught with a pile of waste in his HGV and failed to produce a waste licence told officers that he was “doing work for a friend as a favour”.

The driver was served with a notice requiring him to produce his licence within seven days, and was served with a £300 Fixed Penalty Notice when he failed to do so.