Accused of fly tipping in Scotland and charged £200

Linny61

I don't know if anyone can help but my nephew lives in Fife. He has just moved with his pregnant partner to a cheaper flat as he has just started up in business and is really struggling for money. When he moved he packed up everything and took it to the new flat. He unloaded everything and took it into the house but by mistake he left a black bag with rubbish lying in the street.

Next thing he knew he got a letter at his old address from the enviromental agency asking him to get in touch. He phoned up the number and the person said that an officer would have to come and speak to him. He gave them his new address and when the officer came round and told him that the black bag had been found my nephew explained that he had left it in the street by accident during his house move.

The house was still full of boxes as they hadn't even had a chance to unpack but the officer said that it didn't matter why he had left the bag in the street and that it was a £200 fine. My nephew explained his financial position - the baby is due in three weeks, but the officer wasn't interested.

Does anyone know if he has to pay this fine. I think it is extremely harsh as it was quite obviously a mistake. I doubt if many fly tippers would leave a black bag in the middle of a busy street which had mail with their address on it or that they would phone up and give the agency their new address to help them trace them and fine them.

G_M

It does sound harsh if it is as you describe, but the fact is he left rubbish in the street and that is flytipping.

Illegal.

Rubbish should be disposed of properly. Every council (I'm sure this is true in Scotland as well as England) has regular collections, as well as 'recycling centres' (tips) where rubbish can be properly disposed of.

Personally I wish councils took more action, as our roads and streets are constantly littered.

Hopefully he'll see this as a positive (if expensive) lesson learnt rather than taking it as unfair.

Davesnave

The fact is that your nephew left a bag of rubbish in the street.

His intention may not have been to do that, but it's what he did.

There are many instances when our intentions may be noble, but our actions transgress the law, resulting in a fine. Motoring offences come to mind.

If your nephew had knocked over a street bollard during his removal, could he successfully plead that this should be excused because he was harassed at the time? I don't think so.

£200 would perhaps be more appropriate to a driving offence, but presumably the law on fly tipping has a set scale of fines in Scotland and he is not being singled out. I don't know Scottish law, but as above, I don't see much scope for any appeal.

Guest101

The long and short of it is: no he doesn't, he can sign the form saying he'd prefer to go to court ( sheriff I believe in Scotland ) and probably get a bigger fine if he loses, obviously nothing if he wins.

azzabazza

The legislation regarding fly tipping is quite clear across Scotland. Fife (along with other authorities) are determined to stamp it out.

http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.display&objectid=C4E38E98-E4E9-C209-D51C1F28BC81361F

It may be that someone has phoned the Council to report the waste being left on the street.

I don't think your nephew has any grounds of appeal.

jonnyb1978

Joke. A work in areas were it is clear home owners throw their rubbish, kids toys mattresses etc over the back garden fences yet get away with it.

A black bin bag gets £200 fine. Yes it was left but why don't government authorities actually use discretion. Drop it to £50, lesson learnt. Invest the money for the new born baby etc etc.

It's probably cost nearly £200 in man power. Wages for paying someone to talk on the phone, inputting on computer, man time in sending an officer, petrol, and on and on.

agrinnall

Is there an option for your nephew to go to court and plead his case in the hope that the Sheriff will be lenient? Of course, the potential downside is that he may end up with a harsher punishment.

societys_child

jonnyb1978

It's probably cost nearly £200 in man power. Wages for paying someone to talk on the phone, inputting on computer, man time in sending an officer, petrol, and on and on

Exactly!
Should tax payers have to cover this cost?

pyueck

Linny61 wrote: »

I don't know if anyone can help but my nephew lives in Fife. He has just moved with his pregnant partner to a cheaper flat as he has just started up in business and is really struggling for money. When he moved he packed up everything and took it to the new flat. He unloaded everything and took it into the house but by mistake he left a black bag with rubbish lying in the street.

Next thing he knew he got a letter at his old address from the enviromental agency asking him to get in touch. He phoned up the number and the person said that an officer would have to come and speak to him. He gave them his new address and when the officer came round and told him that the black bag had been found my nephew explained that he had left it in the street by accident during his house move.

The house was still full of boxes as they hadn't even had a chance to unpack but the officer said that it didn't matter why he had left the bag in the street and that it was a £200 fine. My nephew explained his financial position - the baby is due in three weeks, but the officer wasn't interested.

Does anyone know if he has to pay this fine. I think it is extremely harsh as it was quite obviously a mistake. I doubt if many fly tippers would leave a black bag in the middle of a busy street which had mail with their address on it or that they would phone up and give the agency their new address to help them trace them and fine them.

The trouble is that I suspect everybody that gets a fine has a story about how they forgot about the bag on the pavement. Where I live there are constantly black bags on the streets which are pulled apart by foxes leaving a horrid mess. Wish my council would get serious about it.

While I have some sympathy, I kind of find it hard to totally believe somebody could just by accident leave a black bag on the street long enough for somebody to complain to the council and they send somebody somebody round. My advice is pay the fine and be more careful in future with leaving rubbish on the streets.

davidmcn

societys_child wrote: »

jonnyb1978Exactly!
Should tax payers have to cover this cost?

If the costs aren't to be covered by those being fined, or the taxpayers, I'm not sure who you think ought to cover them? Councils are required to enforce fly-tipping - and even if they weren't, it would presumably just lead to more costs for the taxpayers in them picking up the mess.

As for the OP's cousin, if they can't pay the fixed penalty then their only option is to hope that a Sheriff takes a more flexible approach. It may well not be considered worthwhile taking to court anyway.

jimbog

Not 'obvious it was a mistake' at all. Of all the stuff he was moving how surprisingly it was the bag of rubbish he 'mistakenly' left on his old street