If waste from your home, such as unwanted furniture and builders’ rubble, is found dumped on the side of the road or in a field, then you could face criminal prosecution and an unlimited fine, even if you didn’t put it there.

If you have asked to see someone’s waste carrier licence and get a receipt with their details and a description of the waste, but that waste is subsequently dumped illegally, you can still be prosecuted.

If there is flytipping on private land, then it is down to the council to remove the waste immediately.

You can check if a waste carrier is licensed by simply going on to the Environment Agency website and putting in their details.

Putting an unwanted mattress or TV by the side of a local paper or bottle recycling bank is not flytipping.

Putting an unwanted mattress by the side of your kerbside recycling bins is an offence.

You can be fined £300 immediately by council officers for small-scale flytipping offences, such as dumping a few bags of waste somewhere in the borough of Hertsmere.

If you're having work done to your home, then it's down to you to ensure the person taking waste away is licensed to do so.

If you get a receipt from the person taking away your unwanted waste, it needs to have their name and address and details of the waste to be valid.

Only the person who physically dumped waste illegally has committed a crime in the eyes of the law.