accused of fly tipping after rubbish removal

dazeavy

Hi all.
I'm sure this is a common thing but we have just received a letter from the local council asking us to appear for a meeting in which we are interviewed under caution after our rubbish was found in local land.
the situation is that the local scrap man was taking some of our old metal out of the back garden for free and they seen that we had some rubbish in the corner of the garden and said that they could take that too for a charge.
the plan was to get rid of this rubbish as we are moving house soon so.i asked if it was going to be gotten rid of correctly and of course they said yes.
the price they said seemed good so I agreed.
they took the metal and rubbish in the van and drove off paid.
now we have a fly tipping letter and an interview to attend. they have obviously dumped the rubbish in a field mot toofar from the house.
I feel annoyed about this and a bit gullible that I trusted them to do a proper job.
we are both worried now about the interview and the only proof we have that it was done is a text from me to my wife saying that the scrap man is taking the junk and the neighbour seeing them take it.
any advice on what to do or to expect would be great please.

davidmcn

Either "no comment" or grass on the scrappie. It doesn't sound like they have a case beyond reasonable doubt, does it?

Mallotum_X

"No comment" to everything, beyond your name.

The interview is to trip you up and allow them to fine you. It's not designed to get to the truth.

knightstyle

Look here http://www.environmentlaw.org.uk/rte.asp?id=83
First sentence says the householder has to ensure the person is licensed!

Mojisola

dazeavy wrote: »

the situation is that the local scrap man was taking some of our old metal out of the back garden for free and they seen that we had some rubbish in the corner of the garden and said that they could take that too for a charge.

i asked if it was going to be gotten rid of correctly and of course they said yes.

the price they said seemed good so I agreed.

And you believed that for a bargain price, they would take your rubbish to the tip and pay commercial rates to dispose of it?

squinty

Expect a fine. It was your responsibility to check the person removing the waste was registered to remove this (Environmental Protection Act). You failed to do this.

POPPYOSCAR

What kind of rubbish would you have lying about the garden that you would not put in the normal refuse and that identifies you?

dc197

Bad luck. Take the slap on the wrist and live & learn.
Consider not putting rubbish in the bin which could identify you, such as bills and letters. Identify fraud can occur this way, as can getting caught indirectly dumping.

wwl

Is there any legal obligation to attend, or reply at all? I wouldn't be surprised if teh letter at least implied there was, even if there wasn't.
It is up to them to prove, so why help them?

wwl

squinty wrote: »

Expect a fine. It was your responsibility to check the person removing the waste was registered to remove this (Environmental Protection Act). You failed to do this.

How are they going to prove it?

bigfreddiel

Don't you remove all personal information from your rubbish? Just feel lucky the council found it and not a scammer.

Don't do the no comment rout, man up and face the consequences.

Fj