Fly-Tipping Accusation

yoshiyella

You've said twice now that your brother has said that he has never dumped anything there - could he have dumped it elsewhere and someone else moved it off their property?

[Deleted User]

So, it seems the council are relying on two letters addressed to your late father's address being amongst the rubbish. You have "I didn't do it", although the fact that you say you've never seen either letter before suggests that it could just as easily have been the unknown person named on the other letter sent to that address who could have fly-tipped the rubbish - or indeed anyone else who had access to that property. Unfortunately, the council won't care about any other potential suspects because they have you in their sights.

I think your options are:
1. Attend the interview and deny any involvement, explaining what you have in your latest post, and hope they see that their evidence isn't sufficient to continue pursuing you for this;
2. Don't attend the interview, but write to them to deny any involvement, explaining what you have in your latest post;
3. Ignore their invitation and see what happens next (mindful of the fact the may take legal action against you).

You need to decide whether you think you can challenge this or not i.e. is the council's evidence strong enough? You could drop in to your nearest Citizens Advice office to see if they can give you a referral to a local solicitor for a free 30min appt to discuss your options.

If the council end up taking you to court you would have the option of challenging it or paying the FPN (typically £400). Whatever you do largely depends on the time, energy and money you're prepared to spend on this.

dodds23

01afraser4 Yes, I collected some bits from Address B, I have done the majority of the 'sorting' of the estate and ordinarily I bring it home to address A. However, I do not recognise the name on the letter from my fathers property and in truth don't remember a letter like the one they have evidenced, It is quite interestingly addressed.

I think they are working on that assumption also. However, There are some items in the bag that we use in the household, but some we definitely do not.

yoshiyella : Maybe, I do doubt it though. His bin was apparently stolen a few months ago and subsequently crushed by the council, He has evidence of that as he had to lodge a complaint. I guess he could have done so, but in truth there's no evidence of that either :-/

dodds23

AngelicKaty Thank you. I can see why the council have this approach, but it seems very floored. I have no other tangible way of stopping fly-tipping, but as I am on the receiving end of it, It seems grossly unfair.

Citizens advice seem to very much sit on the fence and follow the same line as the council from my previous experience, Thank you though.

Comms69

dodds23 wrote: »

Thank you for your replies.

Maybe I was too vague. Apologies.

My father owns half the property I live at, (Address A) and would still sometimes receive some post there, VERY irregularly though. When he passed away we went to his other property to recover post etc (Address . My brother lives in a house a few doors down the road & he received a letter to that address that was to the 'personal representative and or beneficiary of the late(my father)'. My brother believes they checked records and saw his name and sent correspondence to his address via council tax records.

My brother received the letter and queried it, he says he has never dumped anything up there so he doesn't know how it got there. In doing so he gave my address and name and said he felt it must have come from our rubbish. I emailed them as they said to my brother they would contact me and had no further use for him at this time. I have not received a letter as yet, but they did email yesterday to say they had sent a letter out - likely in todays post.

In the email they sent me yesterday it said "The letter contained a photo of the waste and I have attached additional photos of the correspondence found within the waste." In these photos it shows a letter with my fathers address (Address and also another to (Address but in a name I do not know. There is seemingly nothing with my address or name on it, I have asked twice and it has not been provided.

Now, I was asked if I did dump the rubbish, I don't believe I did, no. Our bins are stored, along with everyone elses in the block, in the area the offending bag was found. Our bins are locked with a skeleton key and have been for about 3 months - the council changed these over from one big grundon bin at that time because we had complained so much about the fly tipping that went on. Thing is I cannot 100% say that it didn't come from our house, But we certainly didn't put it there, especially as we have been the ones moaning about it! I haven't seen either of the offending addressed letters before so I don't believe it was ours.

I don't have free legal advice with house insurance regrettably and I don't want to be paying for a solicitor to come with me when I don't believe this is accusation is just. Thank you.

The simple reality is that these people are trained in interview techniques, you are not. Even with a solicitor I'd be wary - though I suspect the advice would be a prepared statement and no comment interview - without one, I suspect they would totally run rings around you.

lisyloo

dodds23 wrote: »

Yes, I have spoken with him, He is certain it is not him.

I was meaning having a word with him about dropping you right in it !!
he is the one that's told them it must have been you !!

I'm sure hes done that innocently without realising the consequences, but nevertheless I'd be having a word about not dropping me in again with the authorities !!

[Deleted User]

My suggestion to go to your nearest CA wasn't so much to get their advice, but to ask for a referral to a solicitor for a free 30min appt. I think that, however you engage with the council, it would be good to discuss the strength/weakness of the council's evidence with a solicitor.

Shelldean

Property B was in your deceased fathers name?
As your father is deceased has the property been sold?
If it has I presume you know the name of the person it was sold to?
I'll also presume it's not the other unknown name with property B address.
If property B has been sold perhaps the property is rented? That would explain the unknown name.

And maybe the new renters have received post for the previous owner. And just fly tipped it with their own stuff???


Now my post makes a lot of assumptions, but is plausible I think??

markin

Whos living at address B now, that would seem to be the most likely suspect.

dodds23

Thank you for your replies.

Nobody is living at address B, It is vacant and on the market.

The properties are not close enough for that kind of coincidence to occur.