Littering going to court

[Twirler47]

Hi new to here

Here goes, went camping one Thursday night come back late on a Sunday I noticed loads or rubbish at bck of my girlfriends home. As I work for myself I told her I would shift it to a skip on one of my jobs .

Monday morn I was putting a few things back in the yard when the council turned up and started reading my rights saying I had committed a littering offence .

I stated that I hadnt littered at all and was merely removing it from my girlfriends gates and told him to come in the house and look as there was a massive brand new wide screen box for a tv and we dnt have one in the house but he refused to come in. He asked for my details so he could issue a ticket and said he would get the police to arrest me if I didn't - I told him to get the police then as I wasnt giving him my details as I hadnt committed any offence and went back inside the house.

Ten mins later I got in my van and went to local builders merchants to pick up some materials. When I got back in my van there was 2 guys at my window and enforcement officer who tried my van door and asked me to give him my details and tried to block my van in .i managed to drive of but he followed but I did eventually lose him .

2 weeks passed and hdnt herd anything then I went on holiday for 3 weeks when got bck there was a fpn pushed through my door with 80 fine for littering

I rang up to dispute it but when gave details was told it was no longer on the system .then in the post I got a court summons for littering and also not giving my details to a officer even though it isn't on the original fpn.

i went to court and pleased not guilty to littering but had to say I was guilty of not giving my details even though I didn't no I had to as I did ask the guy was I legally obliged to and he said no ...anyway I'm in court on 10th jan and I have to write my defence and the enforcement officers statement says I told him I put the rubbish there and I was moving it .which I never did ...dnt mind taking the wrap for something I have done but I genuinely didn't put that rubbish there.

Now worried about my job as if I get convicted will effect it help much appreciated

[slainte caragh]

Re: Littering going to court

Hi, to avoid confusion with 2 open threads I'm tagging [MENTION=49370]Kati[/MENTION] [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] and [MENTION=332]EXC[/MENTION] to ask one of them to merge this with http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...510#post770510

Hold tight, someone will know what to do

[Kati]

Re: Littering going to court

Hi, to avoid confusion with 2 open threads I'm tagging @Kati @Amethyst and @EXC to ask one of them to merge this with http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...510#post770510

Hold tight, someone will know what to do

sorted SC xx

[Twirler47]

Re: Littering going to court

Ok thanks

[des8]

Re: Littering going to court

Hmm! left it a bit late!

First off as this is a criminal offence with a max fine £2500 (?) I would suggest a chat with a local solicitor quickly.
A Criminal conviction might have an effect on all sorts of things.

Do you live at your girlfriend's house, or merely visit?
Was she away camping with you at the time the litter was dumped?
When did any of the neighbours first notice the litter appearing?
Did they by chance notice it being left?
Did you go through the litter to see if you could trace its ownership?
Was there anything in the litter which might show it was dumped whilst you were away eg receipts from local shops whilst you were camping?
Are any of these people (girlfriend or neighbours prepared to attend court on your behalf)?
"Rubbish at back of girlfriends home"... would the general public be able to access this area easily?

At the trial you will need to cross question the council employee (or was this an outsourced outfit.. KIngdom perhaps?) to throw doubt on his evidence (which appears to be you admitting the offence which you deny)
How many council employees were present?
Was the encounter recorded.. body CCTV?

Pity you didn't give him your details as that is an additional offence. Hopefully though a smart solicitor could argue that away for you if you are found not guilty on the littering offence.

[Twirler47]

Re: Littering going to court

Hi it's AN open bck st so easily accessed by anyone ...I'm at my girlfriends most of the time and yes was away camping with me ...none of it recorded on cctv and nothing in the rubbish had any addresses or I'd on anything 2 council guys present only one given statement though ....

[charitynjw]

Re: Littering going to court

@des8

s87 Environmental Protection Act 1990 defines littering as

87Offence of leaving litter.E+W

[F1(1)

A person is guilty of an offence if he throws down, drops or otherwise deposits any litter in any place to which this section applies and leaves it.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/section/87

As this is a criminal offence, would the burden of proof, & the standard (beyond reasonable doubt), be on the enforcement authority to prove who actually dropped the litter?

[des8]

Re: Littering going to court

@des8

s87 Environmental Protection Act 1990 defines littering as


http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/section/87

As this is a criminal offence, would the burden of proof, & the standard (beyond reasonable doubt), be on the enforcement authority to prove who actually dropped the litter?

That's right [MENTION=5553]charitynjw[/MENTION], but this is a magistrates court and council are likely to turn up with a solicitor.
OP really needs to be well prepared, and ready to cross examine and be cross examined, and IMO should really consider instructing (or at least consulting) a solicitor.
You wouldn't want to lose because of a procedural fault.... this is not small claims in county court!

Procedures in Mag. courts is governed by Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, which at Sec 6 makes it clear that any defence statement is voluntary, so I wonder why [MENTION=111833]Twirler47[/MENTION] states " I have to write my defence ", which I take implies submitting it to the prosecution and court in advance of the hearing.
If it is intended to call witnesses (girlfriend?) the prosecution need to be informed

Presumably that "open bck st" is a public highway (check on council's definitive map)

IMO defence (if you need to write one) needs to be on lines of:
Were away for a few days (show proof) and returned to girl friends house to find rubbish dumped at end of garden.
Rubbish included packaging containers for TV, of a type my GF doesn't have.
I was about to clear it when accosted by jobsworth.

If their only proof is the statement saying you admitted the offence, you would need to show that statement was likely to be false.
Were body cameras worn?
Is the second council employee being called as a witness?
Aggressive questioning would be in order:
When did they first note the litter?
Did they see you deposit the litter?
Why would you admit littering, but then refuse to pay the FPN and risk a court case with a much larger penalty ....?
Did you not tell them you were about to clear the litter, for which neither you nor your GF were responsible, when they arrived on the scene?
etc etc....