A woman has been fined £400 after tidying her local car park and putting other people's litter in the bin. Olivia Post cleared up the mess into a council bin but was told the bin outside her home could only be used for 'litter' and not domestic waste, and slapped with a fine of hundreds of pounds.
After foxes and seagulls tore apart the bins outside Ms Post's flat block, she cleared up the mess and put it in the nearest bin. But by clearing up other people’s broken egg shells and litter from outside her flat, putting it in a council waste bag, and leaving it in a council bin, she had reportedly broken section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Animals tore open the rubbish again, leaving post on the floor, and an enforcement officer handed Ms Post a £400 Fixed Penalty Notice. Two other people in the same flats were also fined .
When Ms Post tried to appeal she was told over email that her only recourse was taking National Enforcement Solutions to court.
A Rother District Council spokesperson said: “Enforcement began in the summer to tackle to the growing issue of fly-tipping and littering, which is a real blight on our district. Enforcement officers can only deal with the situation they come across.
"In this case, rubbish was found on the ground that contained Olivia Post’s name and address, suggesting that the resident had failed to dispose of her waste properly, and she was given an on-the-spot fine.
"We appreciate that there are sometimes circumstances that we are not aware of and, having heard from Ms Post, we will reimburse her for the cost of the penalty notice as a gesture of goodwill.”
Two other women in the same block have also been accused of fly-tipping
First to be fined in the block was Ms Post’s 83 year old neighbour Anne Lazzara, who has been in and out of hospital with pneumonia, and given a £400 fly-tipping bill. And midwife Helena Truett was also penalised.
Anne Lazzara, 83, was penalised for putting her bins out at the wrong time. Ms Lazzara said she's "rather go to prison" than pay the fine. The council eventually rescinded it.
However, Ms Truett has not had hers taken away and was reportedly handed her notice without any evidence she had committed the alleged offence, only told she was “witnessed littering”.
She has no idea what the fine is regarding, but the tenants expect it will either be for putting her rubbish out for collection or putting litter in the bin.
Ms Post said: “Our rubbish is contained in a plastic bag, and we have foxes and seagulls here that rip the bags open. We’re in this constant scenario of having litter and rubbish from all over the place being strewn across the car park.
“During the snow it was particularly bad because nobody came to empty the bins, there was even more litter strewn around that unusual. So I went and picked the litter up, took the rubbish bag out of my kitchen, which obviously had some of my waste in.
“It would never have occurred to me that was a problem. It took me quite some time to pick the rubbish up and put it in the rubbish bin.
“The following day I get a knock on my door from this officer who managed to get up the icy pathway, which was quite astonishing to be honest, because we had no water, no shops open, we were literally cut off.
“I was astonished because the one service we got was somebody issuing fines. He asked me, “Do you recognise this bag?”
“Of course I said 'yes' and he said 'I’m giving you this fine' and cautioned me - it’s very intimidating. He had his camera on and, just like the police, he read me my rights.
“I was flabbergasted,. I said 'this isn’t even my rubbish apart from the stuff at the bottom'. I recounted what I’d done, said I’d gone out and picked all this litter up, which was pretty vile litter, and put it in the bin.
“And he said “Well, it’s not in the bin now.” And I said well no, because it’s been pulled out of the bin and ripped open, which is completely illustrating my point that this is what keeps happening.
“When I submitted for an appeal, their website is very intimidating. It tells you you can’t appeal a huge fine, and that you’ve got no way to see the evidence. It’s just completely behind closed doors that they review your case and tell you you are still guilty.
“It’s really upsetting, I hate litter, I find it really distressing. I’m really unhappy about flytipping and you can see that by virtue of the fact I am out there cleaning up. I can’t believe it.
“Where do you go from here? I actually like the council, I think we have a lot of people doing a lot of good work. They’ve also said its flytipping if you put something near a bin. If there’s an overflowing bin, surely your approach is to get a bigger bin, not to target people with good intentions trying to put rubbish in it?
“My neighbour is a nurse and she got a fine, and I’m an entertainer and I’ve lost all my work - a £400 fine for anybody is a lot of money. Hers is even worse because she was only told she was witnessed doing this, can you imagine the paranoia living in this house, what have we got? The fly tipping spies outside the garden? Just waiting for us to put litter in the bin.
“She didn’t even see the officer yesterday, and she received a letter yesterday saying it was now going to go to court. They're giving me a goodwill extension, and offered to refund me, but fundamentally they're saying you still have to pay the fine.
"I don't think you should pay for something like that, I feel like I'm admitting to guilt, because it says on their website that you pay the fine to avoid prosecution. The head of legal at Rother Council said there's also no legal definition of flytipping."
She praised Liberal Democrat councillor Kathryn Field who was dismayed by NES’s actions. When Ms Post did appeal NES rejected it.
She received an email signed by “Representations Team” that said: “I have reviewed your comments and the evidence collected by the investigating officer. As a result, your representation has been declined.
“Having viewed the interaction between yourself and the Officer, which was held under caution, I can see that you admit that the waste had been deposited by you. You admit that under caution, that you placed your waste in the litter bin.
“You must keep your unwanted waste on your own property until such time that you can dispose of it correctly, or you can use the local tips. You must keep your unwanted waste on your own property until such time that you can dispose of it correctly, or you can use the local tips.
“Dumped waste on the public highway would be collected by the council at our cost. As a consequence, an offence of Fly Tipping was committed. “A Fixed Penalty Notice is issued to offenders to give them the opportunity to discharge liability for prosecution.
“You can discharge your liability to prosecution for the offence of fly tipping under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by payment of the Fixed Penalty Notice or request a court date to have your case heard in the magistrate’s court to appeal the offence.”
National Enforcement Solutions have been approached for comment.
