A Dartford scrap metal dealer operating illegally in Bexley has been fined by magistrates.

Slawomir Stanislaw Jurczak, 53, of Priory Close, was caught on CCTV helping to load a washing machine into a white transit van near recycling banks in Lensbury Way, Thamesmead in December last year.

Bexley Magistrates' Court heard, although the defendant had a waste carrier’s licence, he was not licensed to carry out a scrap metal dealing business in the borough of Bexley.

Jurczak pleaded guilty to dealing scrap metal without a licence but claimed he believed as a self-employed person working alone that he did not need a licence.

He was fined £335 plus £200 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

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Councillor Peter Craske, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Environment and Leisure said: “Scrap metal dealers have a responsibility to make sure that they know the law and that they have the relevant licences in place.

"The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 was established to combat metal theft, which at its peak was costing the country upwards of £1 billion a year.

"It was also the cause of significant disruption and distress, particularly when our railways and national heritage sites were looted.

"It is therefore very important that the Council sends out a clear message that those who do not comply with the new law will be prosecuted."