Council jobsworths fine couple £400 because one of them put an ENVELOPE in a public bin... and then were tracked down by the address on it
- Deborah and Ian Day received £200 fines each for the littering offence
Council jobsworths slapped a couple with a hefty £400 littering fine after one of them put an envelope in a public bin, before they were tracked down by the address on the front.
Stoke City Council hit Deborah and Ian Day with individual £200 fines after fishing out the envelope which contained their address.
Deborah Day, 47, who lives on Dividy Road, in Bentilee, Stoke-on-Trent, was on her way to work when she put the envelope in the public bin on her street.
But council investigators say this breaches sections 87 and 88 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and constitutes it as an offence of littering because household waste cannot be put in a public bin.
The hairdresser said: 'I have received a letter from the council with a fine of £200 and my husband (Ian) has received one too because apparently we're both to blame.
Deborah and Ian Day (pictured) received individual £200 fines after putting an envelope in a public bin in Stoke-on-Trent
The couple each received a fine from Stoke City Council after jobsworths fished out the envelope and traced their address
Council investigators claimed the act breached sections 87 and 88 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and constitutes it as an offence of littering because household waste cannot be put in a public bin
'It is for an empty envelope inside a bin and the council has even attached a photo of the envelope which had my address on it in their letter'.
Deborah, who also had Covid at the time, revealed she was left feeling 'so distraught' following the incident.
'I thought 'what the hell is this'? We have a lot of homeless people emptying bins and leaving rubbish around - it's ridiculous - I go to work and I pay my taxes,' she said.
'There was a man living in an empty freezer outside the One Stop shop and he left rubbish everywhere yet nothing was done about that. It's shocking and unbelievable, the world's gone mad'.
The furious woman explained she had attempted to appeal the fine but the council remained convinced that the couple had committed an offence.
'I'm not paying it,' she said defiantly.
'They've even said they'll increase the penalty to £2,500 and threatened court action if we don't pay the £400. But I'll go to prison first. All just for one envelope.
'The council is fining innocent people instead of cracking down on the people who actually do fly-tip.
'People throw settees and furniture out into the street and there's rubbish all the way down to the field nearby. If I see rubbish on my street I pick it up and put it in the bin - it's really annoyed me.'
A Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesperson said: 'Stoke-on-Trent City Council is maintaining its zero-tolerance approach to illegal dumping in our towns and with that comes enforcement. We are continuing with proactive patrolling and investigations.
'Once an area is under investigation and while evidence is being processed, we arrange for the removal of the waste with our cleansing teams. This case is currently under investigation with our Environmental Crime Team.
'Fixed Penalty Notices are issued as an alternative to prosecution proceedings in court. We are committed to working together to clean up our city and will enforce, where evidence supports, against waste offences.'
It comes after a pensioner was fined more than £2,500 after failing to clear his garden full of scrap metal and rusty cars.
Environment Agency officers first visited 77-year-old Ivor Salter at Otterford Caravan Park in Culmhead, Somerset, in January 2023.
They caught him storing run down vehicles, car parts, mixed metal, electronic equipment, alongside mounds of commercial and domestic waste.
The Environment Agency asked if he would voluntarily clear the back garden junk site and Salter agreed to do so.
But Salter did not stick to his word and was issued notices which gave him until the end of 2023 to get it done.
