The man dubbed Britain’s worst fly-tipper has been told by top judges he cannot complain about being made to contribute towards the cost of his prosecution.

Malcolm Arnold Regan was caught dumping tyres from his business at a Stratford warehouse – leaving its owner with a �100,000 clean up bill.

The 46-year-old, from South Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford, was jailed for three months at Inner London Crown Court in February after admitting unauthorised depositing of controlled waste.

His van was also seized and he was ordered to pay �3,750 towards the prosecution’s costs – which totalled more than �7,000.

At the Appeal Court on Thursday Regan’s lawyers argued he didn’t have the funds to pay this costs order and attacked it as “excessive”.

Drugs

But his appeal was dismissed by the judges who said Regan has spent most of his life working and had made no attempt to show his true financial position.

Regan and an accomplice, Tony Gustave, were caught red-handed as they dumped tyres at the warehouse in February 2009.

The businessman who owned the warehouse, in High Street, Stratford, was shocked to find the pair discarding the old tyres in the building.

Gustave, 33, of Hackney, who is serving a 21-month sentence for looting during the London riots, was jailed for another two months after admitting the same offence as Regan.

The court heard Regan was previously slapped with an Asbo which banned him from trading in tyres within the M25 and from associating with Gustave. He was also jailed in August 2010 after dumping waste from his tyre-sales business at sites across London – including the Olympics site in Stratford.

Dismissing his appeal, Mr Justice Treacy said that, as Regan didn’t offer any evidence of his financial situation, the crown court judge was “entitled to draw inferences” from a probation report.

He said this included details of how Regan spent nearly all his time working, raced cars for money as a hobby and used class A drugs – on one occasion spending �500 in one day on illicit substances.