fixed penalty notice for not producing waste transfer note in 14 days

hosvil1358

hi guys

i always have my waste transfer notes, but the council officer the day that he attended the store, instead of talking to the manger, he speaks to the locum pharmacist who there for a day or so, and leaves a note that we should provide them with waste trasnfer note. i was not aware of it until the fpn arrived. straight away i email them the waste trasnfer note and explained that communication was broken in the middile and i was not aware of it. however they refusing to waive the fine and asking for £300. i have exaplined them twice that i wasnt aware of it and the officer gave the notice to someone who had no clue about it. do you think if i go to court, i have chance to win?

thank you

SiliconChip

As this is a business arrangement it's got nothing to do with consumer rights, and it's probably not something that is really covered anywhere on the forum. If you want legal advice you'll need to consult a solicitor and pay for it, but the chances are the cost of that will be similar to the fine, so it might be simpler just to pay it. Next time ensure that you fully brief your locum on their responsibilities in your absence.

soolin

I have moved this to a slightly better board - although I suspect this isn't really a 'small' business- and would echo the earlier reply to speak to the company solicitors and get proper business advice.

molerat

You are required in law to produce your waste transfer note on demand to any officer empowered to request it. You failed to do that and the officer gave you the benefit and allowed for it to be produced later. You failed to do that due to a gap in the processes and procedures within your business. Look at it as a wake up call to review what other shortcomings there are.

hosvil1358

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140820#Comment_82140820

hi

there are no shortcomings. only the officer asked a temporary staff eventhough there was a manager there. there was a communication problem, however council aknowledge it but not interested. only wants the money to be paid. i wonder if i have a case in court?

la531983

You want to go to court and prove the communication in your business is poor?

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140841#Comment_82140841

Sounds like an inadequate process on your end. The temporary staff member should have been trained to either produce the notes on demand, or to defer any such queries to the manager. That is not the councils problem.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140841#Comment_82140841

Clearly there is a process problem as you have been fined. The temp member of staff should have been told that this sort of thing wasnt something they were to deal with and it should have been referred to the manager. The manager probably should have a checkout with the temp at the end of their shift too given they arent going to know all your processes and procedures so can check that they have done things correctly and be told about the request which hadn't been handled inline with procedure.

Baldytyke88

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140966#Comment_82140966

How do councils ascertain that they are speaking to the right person?

Savvy_Sue

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82141387#Comment_82141387

In my experience, they don't. I recall a visit where they spoke to a front line colleague who had no more clue about waste disposal than I did about the clients. I think I and my team were out on a training day.

The official grudgingly agreed they'd return the following day, but left with dire threats about what would happen if the WTNs weren't available.

sherlock228

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140841#Comment_82140841

but there are shortcomings. The locaum failed to inform a permanent member of staff. The permanent member of staff failed to debrief the locum on what had happened whilst they were unsupervised.

"Blame" entirely on you.
Pay the fine and learn from it