CCTV appeal after Lancashire waste dumping
The Environment Agency is appealing for help to identify a man officers need to speak to in connection with waste dumping in Nelson, Lancashire.
Published here:
Officers are investigating the deposit of around 75 tonnes of mixed commercial and household waste in the yard of a mill in Nelson the town.
The man the Environment Agency want to trace is described as white, approximately 5ft 9in tall, of a heavy build, with red hair. Footage shows him with a beard.
The Environment Agency believes the dumping was organised and deliberate. A total of five deposits were made during one afternoon and into the evening, using a wagon displaying cloned vehicle registration plates, a tactic that can be used to avoid detection.
Officers have already progressed a number of lines of enquiry and spoken to a person of interest.
This appeal featured on Crimewatch Live on 22 October .[1]
‘Deliberate waste dumping’
This was a deliberate dumping of waste, and we believe it was planned using cloned number plates to help evade detection. The landowner is facing clean-up costs and the mill sits in a residential area next to a canal, with local people having to live with the sight of this waste every day. We are urging anyone who recognises the man in the images to come forward with information.
— John Neville, Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency,
The landowner now faces clean-up costs amounting to thousands of pounds to ensure the waste, which was dumped on Sunday 15 February 2026, between 2pm and 6pm, is removed and disposed of at a legitimate waste facility.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.