Fixed Penalty Notice - littering

complexmessiah

Hope somebody can help:
Me and my fiancee recently decided to leave Trafford and move out to Glossop. The impending arrival of a newborn made us look at city life (or at least the version of it we've been able to afford since moving to Manchester not so long ago) and decide that we'd prefer to raise a child in a more rural location.

Last night we came home to find a bag of forwarded post, which included a lovely communique from Trafford council advising of an FPN for £50 for littering. The item in question is a 'bag of waste' which was apparently left in either the alleyway (where the bins are collected) or the street. I was identified from letters found in said bag.

I was informed that I had 14 days to pay the FPN (long-since passed by the time I received the letter) or face court/potential court costs/a fine of up to £2,500 and a possible conviction.

The date given for this being discovered was the 27th, I had vacated on the 23rd which was also the date the landlord chose to inspect, at which time any rubbish was placed into bins - certainly not left lying around.

Any advice on how I should deal with this? I have not yet had a chance to speak to the council but will try them this afternoon.

Additionally, I was sure that going through people's rubbish (which they obviously did in order to get my name) was an offence . . . although councils now being fully bestowed with Orwellian powers of surveillance/snooping etc wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

Well I would just ask them how they got you as the offender.

They will have either "seen you", "somebody reported you", or your landlord may have! or whoever the person at your old house was?

rising_from_the_ashes

Please .... never ever put anything out in the rubbish that can identify you - anything with your name / address / any other identifying mark should be scored out with marker pen (with a sticky label over if you could wipe it off) and preferably shredded as well.

A very easy way for someone to steel your identity.

vax2002

I would opt to go to court, I will give it less than a minute in front of the magistrate, that is if the councils solicitor is stupid enough to follow it up.
The onus will be on the prosecution to prove the charge and finding a bag of old letters certainly will not do that, if anyone it should be the bin men, for that is obviously who has dropped it.

BlushingRose

I did see a program about fly-tipping and yes, it seems that councils ARE allowed to go through rubbish to find the owners of said bags if dumped somewhere where they shouldn't be.
I can't advise on what to do, other than perhaps send a cope of your current tenancy agreement (or some other proof to say that you weren't in the town at the time) and perhaps a letter to say that you've only just got the letter and that it can't have been you who dumped it as you were no longer there.

noelphobic

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Please .... never ever put anything out in the rubbish that can identify you - anything with your name / address / any other identifying mark should be scored out with marker pen (with a sticky label over if you could wipe it off) and preferably shredded as well.

A very easy way for someone to steel your identity.

How can anyone steal your identity from an envelope? I can understand how it would be possible if it was something like a utilities bill but not an envelope or even a personal letter. Names and addresses can easily be obtained from the Electoral Roll anyway.

rising_from_the_ashes

noelphobic wrote: »

How can anyone steal your identity from an envelope?

Where was an envelope mentioned? Since the OP said .....

complexmessiah wrote: »

Additionally, I was sure that going through people's rubbish (which they obviously did in order to get my name) was an offence . . .

and since they obviously managed to obtain his/her details - there must have been something in the bag which had their details on ... obviously not just a blank envelope but more likely something like junk mail.

Edited

noelphobic wrote: »

Names and addresses can easily be obtained from the Electoral Roll anyway.

Not strictly true - if you are on the Edited Version, then yes anyone can see this (usually at somewhere like a local library etc).

However, if you choose to opt out of this and are only on the Full Version, then only certain people / organisations can view this and only for specific purposes eg to run a credit check.

noelphobic

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Where was an envelope mentioned? Since the OP said .....



and since they obviously managed to obtain his/her details - there must have been something in the bag which had their details on ... obviously not just a blank envelope but more likely something like junk mail.



Not strictly true - if you are on the Edited Version, then yes anyone can see this (usually at somewhere like a local library etc).

However, if you choose to opt out of this and are only on the Full Version, then only certain people / organisations can view this and only for specific purposes eg to run a credit check.

Don't want to get into an argument here. I was just using an envelope as an example because you said 'Please .... never ever put anything out in the rubbish that can identify you.' I don't see how anyone can steal your identity from junk mail either.

Also, it was me who mentioned the electoral roll and I think you have attributed it to another poster.

I won't say anything more on this subject because I don't want to hijack the thread with something that is irrelevant and unhelpful.

rising_from_the_ashes

Mistake corrected - we're all human!

If you have / know someone who has had their identity stolen you will know how much stress it causes and IMHO making sure we do everything we can to protect ourselves surely must be a good thing - and also stops this sort of thing happening.

OP I would agree a copy of your new lease and (I'm assuming you have one) a signed/dated copy of your former landlord's inspection sign off with the date proving you left the property should help your case. Unfortunately it won't prove you didn't leave the stuff there but hopefully they will be reasonable about it.

Has a new tenant moved in? My bets would be they needed the space in the bin when they unpacked and took your bags out.

complexmessiah

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Currently crafting my response. Will be interesting to see how long they pursue this. Knowing Trafford council, I'm assuming for sometime with the gusto of a rottweiler!

morrit

I would be interested to know how this turned out... Old thread I know but interested nonetheless...