Litter FPN received but not at falut- awaiting court summons

[Wendy245]

Hello,

I have received a Fixed Penalty Notice in the post for 100/150 pounds for litter found abandoned in central London. They have provided 3 images; 2 of 10+ full rubbish bags on a street in London and an image of some Amazon packaging with my name and address on. I have no idea how a single piece of my rubbish ended up in one of these many bags but I certainly had nothing to do with dumping it there. I live 35 miles from the street it was found on in a rural part of Kent; where I both live and work. This would be a minimum circa 2 hour return trip for me through London traffic. I've not been to the London district where the litter was found in almost 4 years and have no ties with the area. I have sent several emails to the council who issued the fine outlining the above, also asking for further evidence that the bags of litter belong to me/ that I left them there but they simply keep telling me that the fine was issued correctly and I either pay the fine or await a court summons and face a higher fine and criminal record.

Does anyone have experience with this? I am not paying for something I had nothing to do with and am disappointed in the councils' clear main motivation being simply to receive payment, not finding the actual person at fault. Am I right in thinking this will get thrown out at court as there obviously is no evidence that I left the bags of rubbish there?

Advice greatly appreciated, thank you,

W

[islandgirl]

In court name and address details found with rubbish are often held up to link the "dumper" to the "dumped". You would have to explain how your details got there and perhaps prove that you were nowhere near that area at that time (were you working on the days it was found for example). Using the address details found IS the way they find who the actual person is who is at fault.

[Wendy245]

Thanks for your message. Surely this means that anybody wanting to dump rubbish simply has to remove a letter from someone else's bin that shows their details, and then leave it with their fly-tipping? I showed evidence that my car was parked all day near my home town and a one day return train ticket on the date that they took the photographs, however they have said that was the day that the litter was found, not necessarily when it was left there. So, it seems I am unable to prove this as they seemingly have no time span? Wouldn't they need evidence of me leaving it there? And more than just one thing amongst many bags that leads to me?

[des8]

I believe that the authorities do not have to prove you left it there, just that it was yours.
Your liability is to dispose of your rubbish legally, and it may be assumed that you paid an unlicensed waste carrier to dispose of it. If he flytips and it can be traced back to you , you will be held liable.

I'm not saying that is what happened, but is how the matter could be viewed

[Wendy245]

But does one piece of packaging with my address on proof that the 10+ bags of litter belonged to me? I have my rubbish collected weekly by my own council and have a tip 7miles from my home. I do recycle packaging and reuse it to package art orders and I have customers in London but how could I prove how it came to be on this street in London? Does the council have an obligation to show me the entirety of the packaging? Because theres a good chance it has my company 'recycled' sticker on it. Finding this all quite stressful. I would never litter, my business is based around being sustainable, I've even started my own anti-litter NGO whilst living abroad.

[R0b]

What is the actual offence they are claiming has occurred - is it an offence of littering under s.87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 or something else?

[echat11]

Send them a SAR, make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

As part of the SAR ask them to send you the 'rubbish' because they say it's yours (surely they have held onto it as evidence against you).

Contact the ICO ask them if the above request is 'workable'.

[Wendy245]

Yes, it reads 'litter penalty: contrary to section 87/88 of the environmental protection act 1990 as amended' .. 'under section 87 Environmental Protection Act 1990.'

[Wendy245]

Send them a SAR, make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

As part of the SAR ask them to send you the 'rubbish' because they say it's yours (surely they have held onto it as evidence against you).

Contact the ICO ask them if the above request is 'workable'.

I just called asking if they could send me more photos of the evidence and he just kept repeating they just have the one photograph. I have had a couple of London orders in the last few weeks, one to a commercial property, but the packaging found wouldn't have their address on, just my 'packaging is recycled and recylable' label on. If I retrieve the packaging, could they then say I've tampered with it?

[islandgirl]

How frustrating for you. I have seen convictions in court because someone employed a man in a van to take the rubbish who said they were licenced. The householder did not keep the person's details. The rubbish was dumped. The householder was convicted. You can try again with the council perhaps and give proof of the day before the tipping too but that does not remove the possibility that you hired a man with a van! However if you came to court and defended the charge you may win - but you would have to try to account for how your mail came to be in the bags?

[echat11]

Yes, it reads 'litter penalty: contrary to section 87/88 of the environmental protection act 1990 as amended' .. 'under section 87 Environmental Protection Act 1990.'

Phoning won't provide any answers, you need to send a SAR, they have 30 days to respond, if they don't you can lodge a complaint with the ICO.

You can email them the SAR. You lose nothing in emailing a SAR. The fact they only have one picture is worrying, it suits their 'narrative'.

[Wendy245]

Thanks all.

I'd hoped speaking to someone on the phone rather than email might help get a humane response but alas no. They are so unhelpful. Even when I said that the packaging might be reused as packaging sent to a customer, the agent said 'this still belongs to you.' Unbelievably frustrating. I will try sending a SAR, see what happens. Thank you.

[echat11]

Let us know how you get on.