Fly-Tipping Letter Advice

Flibbertigibbet4545

I have received a letter from the local council accusing me of fly-tipping as I disposed of a cardboard box in the wrong location. I do admit responsibility for this although it was an honest mistake and I wasn't aware I was committing an offence. 
I've received a letter from the local council (the box showed my name but not my address, so they must have obtained it from the electoral register) concerning the alleged offence and warning that a fixed penalty notice may be issued. I'm also invited to respond to several, largely irrelevant questions but it says I'm under no obligation to do so although it might harm my defence if I don't. I've not been invited to an interview under caution or anything similar.
As I am in the wrong, am I best off responding honestly, apologising profusely and hoping this might work in my favour. Or should I not engage if I don't have to as I run the risk of further incriminating myself? I fully understand there will most likely be a FPN to pay in any case.

Stubod

Flibbertigibbet4545 said:

As I am in the wrong, am I best off responding honestly, apologising profusely and hoping this might work in my favour.......

THIS...........................

jimbog

there has been a number of posts about this over the years. If you were to do a search in the forum  of 'fly tipping letter' some may have outlined what the outcome was

theartfullodger

Be. open and honest.  As always. Council has better things to do than sort this sort out 

Regards to all.

Section62

Edit: Posted wrongly thinking the OP had already had a FPN, see further discussion below.

Flibbertigibbet4545 said:

I have received a letter from the local council accusing me of fly-tipping as I disposed of a cardboard box in the wrong location. I do admit responsibility for this although it was an honest mistake and I wasn't aware I was committing an offence. 
I've received a letter from the local council (the box showed my name but not my address, so they must have obtained it from the electoral register) concerning the alleged offence and warning that a fixed penalty notice may be issued. I'm also invited to respond to several, largely irrelevant questions but it says I'm under no obligation to do so although it might harm my defence if I don't. I've not been invited to an interview under caution or anything similar.
As I am in the wrong, am I best off responding honestly, apologising profusely and hoping this might work in my favour. Or should I not engage if I don't have to as I run the risk of further incriminating myself? I fully understand there will most likely be a FPN to pay in any case.

If you plan not to engage then you should probably speak to a solicitor to advise you on the risks invovled in that course of action.  It is possible the council will forget all about it, or they may progress the enforcement.  If you know you were in the wrong and don't really have a defence then a solicitor would probably advise you the latter course of action is high risk.

The problem is paying a solicitor for their advice may well cost more than the value of the FPN... so which route is likely to be the cheaper overall should probably be a consideration.

If there was a cardboard box with your name on it, dumped in a location where it shouldn't have been, then you don't have much in the way of a defence. The nature of the 'honest mistake' may provide some mitigation though - is there something else you can share with us about that?  Bear in mind most councils regularly provide information to residents about flytipping - for example on bin collection date cards or the magazines/newspapers they deliver to residents - which can make it difficult to argue that you weren't aware flytipping was an offence.

Making contact with them and apologising probably won't make much difference, but if you decided you were going to pay the FPN anyway then there may be little harm in asking whether they would consider withdrawing the FPN on this one-off occasion.  Expect them to say 'no', but you won't know if you don't ask.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The amount for a FPN for fly tipping was increased a little while back from £400 to £1000 (possibly reduced to £500 if paid within x days).

How big was your box OP and was it empty? Usually anything under a black bin bag size is classed as littering. 

I doubt the council are interested in much more than getting a fine out you but the fact they haven't issued one presumably means they don't have enough evidence yet, which is why they want you to incriminate yourself by answering their questions.

The part where it says not doing so may harm your defence is a standard principle, if you say nothing now, later find yourself in court and then say "well, this, that and the other" the prosecution could suggest to the court that you've made that up now as were it true you would have said so from the start. 

Hard to give advice on these things as it is you who will face the consequences, you might get more advice here:

https://www.ftla.uk/non-motorist-legal-advice/ 

HelpfulLittleHelper

I'd say there is a difference with putting the cardboard box full of recycling paper next to some bins because they were full or put out on the wrong day compared to a box full of paint tins dumped in the woods. Which is more like your situation as I don't really see them chasing something that looks like an honest mistake.

Section62

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I doubt the council are interested in much more than getting a fine out you but the fact they haven't issued one presumably means they don't have enough evidence yet, which is why they want you to incriminate yourself by answering their questions.

It isn't that.  The council cannot issue a 'fine' - only a court can do that - which is the factual reason why they haven't issued a fine (and won't).

The FPN isn't legally a 'fine', but it amounts to that, and laypeople in general (and the media) will often call a FPN a 'fine' even though it isn't.

So the first part of your comment above is about right (in layperson's terms) - i.e. that the council will probably only be interested in getting the FPN paid.

The opportunity to respond to any questions accompanying a FPN isn't designed to entrap people.  It is a necessary part of the justice process to allow people to respond to an allegation (if they wish) and explain why they believe the allegation to be false or unreasonable.  If the council instead issued a notice saying "Pay this or go to court, no correspondence will be entered into" then there would - rightly - be claims the process was unfair and heavy handed.  That doesn't necessarily mean that replying to any optional questions is a good idea, just that characterising it as an attempt at achieving self-incrimination isn't very accurate.

If the FPN isn't paid and the recipient is then prosecuted (e.g. through a magistrates court) then the fine (if any) on conviction doesn't go to the council, at best they would get some of their costs awarded.  Which is one reason why councils wanted the FPN process introduced in the first place.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Section62 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I doubt the council are interested in much more than getting a fine out you but the fact they haven't issued one presumably means they don't have enough evidence yet, which is why they want you to incriminate yourself by answering their questions.

It isn't that.  The council cannot issue a 'fine' - only a court can do that - which is the factual reason why they haven't issued a fine (and won't).

The FPN isn't legally a 'fine', but it amounts to that, and laypeople in general (and the media) will often call a FPN a 'fine' even though it isn't.

Apologies I meant FPN in that sentence, lazy typing  

Section62 said

The opportunity to respond to any questions accompanying a FPN isn't designed to entrap people.  

OP hasn't had a FPN, they've just they had a letter asking about the matter, which is to gather evidence to issue a FPN. The council aren't interested in whether you have excuses of being mistaken in your actions, they just want to know whether you commit the offence. 

If the council had the evidence they'd have issued a FPN, they haven't so possibly don't but would certainly hope that, as is the case with most people, when they attempt to explain their innocence they instead end up saying something that incriminates themselves. 

Section62 said: If the council instead issued a notice saying "Pay this or go to court, no correspondence will be entered into" then there would - rightly - be claims the process was unfair and heavy handed.  That doesn't necessarily mean that replying to any optional questions is a good idea, just that characterising it as an attempt at achieving self-incrimination isn't very accurate.

FPNs for fly tipping and littering don't really have an appeals process, councils usually say you can put forward information for them to consider, but that is only to prove the offence wasn't committed, or the FPN was incorrectly issued, presumably councils do this because taking people to court is expensive and a rather pointless expense if the person is indeed innocent. 

The whole heavy handed thing is skewed, if OP left a dozen bin bags on the street or this was the third time a box with their name on had been found then you can understand but, taking OP at their word, this kind of thing is best dealt with through education, i.e don't do it again or will cost you a grand. 

Section62

HelpfulLittleHelper said:

I'd say there is a difference with putting the cardboard box full of recycling paper next to some bins because they were full or put out on the wrong day compared to a box full of paint tins dumped in the woods.

Not really.  One factor in the enforcement regime is consideration of the cost to the taxpayer of clearing waste.  If the paper in the cardboard box starts blowing around the street it can be far more difficult (read: expensive) to clear up, compared to simply loading a box of paint tins onto the back of a van.

The "woods" part makes it sound like a worse crime from an emotive point of view, but that won't necessarily be the way the council and/or magistrate sees it.

The FPN regime for envirocrime enforcment is a form of summary justice - the focus is on whether you did or didn't do the alleged thing, not so much on the why.  The nature of the offence may be a factor in setting the level of fine in cases involving prosecution, but the FPN is 'fixed', so won't usually result in an opportunity to negotiate paying a lower penalty because the offence was considered less serious by the offender.

HelpfulLittleHelper said:

Which is more like your situation as I don't really see them chasing something that looks like an honest mistake.

The "honest mistake" defence/mitigation isn't much use unless the coucil operate a policy of cancelling FPN's for first-time offenders who use this defence. To illustrate the point using a related form of FPN enforcement, many people will claim that driving at 40mph in a 30mph zone was an "honest mistake" (e.g. didn't see the signs/was distracted/faulty satnav/wasn't thinking) but it would be optimistic to expect a speeding FPN to be cancelled on that basis.

The decision what to do if the FPN isn't paid will likely be on a cost/benefit basis - it will cost the council money to prosecute, someone will make a decision whether the cost is justified for the benefit the prosecution would bring.  E.g. if the council wants to send a message to the wider public then prosecution might be more likely than otherwise.

Flibbertigibbet4545

HelpfulLittleHelper said:

I'd say there is a difference with putting the cardboard box full of recycling paper next to some bins because they were full or put out on the wrong day compared to a box full of paint tins dumped in the woods. Which is more like your situation as I don't really see them chasing something that looks like an honest mistake.

Thanks all. Yes, this is the situation, the bins were full, and, as there was another cardboard box there (which I now guess must also have been fly tipped), I assumed it was the correct place to leave boxes for recycling. 
I do intend to pay the FPN if it comes to it. I guess my question is, if I don't respond, will the council just issue me with an FPN and that will be that. Or are they more likely to forget an FPN and take me to court as I've been uncooperative?