A WIDNES man was fined more than £600 for illegally ditching an old sofa.

Keith Ditchfield, aged 49, of Alice Court, West Bank, failed to attend his hearing at Warrington Magistrates Court, but an application to proceed in his absence was granted.

The court heard that officers knocked on Ditchfield’s door to determine the owner of a sofa outside his property in August last year.

Ditchfield admitted the sofa belonged to him, but did not remove the sofa despite two warnings from police.

Consequently, officers issued a caution and a fixed penalty notice for littering as an alternative to a formal prosecution for fly-tipping the court heard.

After accepting the notice, Ditchfield failed to pay which led to the case being before the magistrates on Wednesday where he received a financial penalty of £300 together with the mandatory £20 victim surcharge.

He was also ordered to pay the council’s costs of £225 and the compensation order of £132 in respect of the clean-up costs.