Hampshire County Council has apologised to a frustrated Fair Oak pensioner after he was turned away from a waste centre twice in one day.

David Hogan, 73, said that he felt the council was encouraging fly-tipping after being turned away from his local Household Waste Recycling Centre for not having a permit for his Transit van - despite having had no issues before.

Hampshire County Council said: “Hampshire County Council has been operating a permit scheme for commercial-size vehicles at Household Waste Recycling Centres since 2008.

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"This enables residents to use a van, pick-up or trailer to transport their own larger volumes of household waste for disposal, while restricting use of the sites for commercial purposes.

"The permit allows site staff to confirm that the customer is correctly disposing of household, rather than commercial material. An £18 administration fee applies for all permit applications to cover the cost of administering the scheme.

"All HWRCs are expected to comply with this approach and we apologise for any inconsistencies that this customer may have experienced at this site.

“The majority of fly-tipping cases in Hampshire are due to a small minority of irresponsible individuals dumping commercial waste. Fly-tipping is a criminal activity and the County Council continues to work closely with partner organisations to tackle this issue.”