Woman hit with £400 fine for picking up rubbish scattered by foxes and seagulls
A woman who helped tidy the car park outside her home where foxes and seagulls had ripped open several black sacks has been fined £400 .
After clearing up the mess left by vermin outside her flat, Olivia Post put the mess in the nearest bin.
When animals tore open the rubbish again, letters with her address on them were left on the ground, and an enforcement officer handed her a Fixed Penalty Notice.
Two other people in the same flats were also fined.
Olivia told Wales Online: “It’s really upsetting, I hate litter, I find it really distressing. I’m really unhappy about flytipping and you can see that by virtue of the fact I am out there cleaning up. I can’t believe it.
Roadside shame of filthy Brits who throw 'tsunami' of litter from car windows
The public bin is close to the block of flats she lives in (SWNS)“Our rubbish is contained in a plastic bag, and we have foxes and seagulls here that rip the bags open. We’re in this constant scenario of having litter and rubbish from all over the place being strewn across the car park.
“During the snow it was particularly bad because nobody came to empty the bins, there was even more litter strewn around than usual. So I went and picked the litter up, took the rubbish bag out of my kitchen, which obviously had some of my waste in.
“It would never have occurred to me that was a problem. It took me quite some time to pick the rubbish up and put it in the rubbish bin.
“The following day I got a knock on my door from this officer who managed to get up the icy pathway, which was quite astonishing to be honest, because we had no water, no shops open, we were literally cut off.
Olivia and two neighbours were fined a combined £1,200 (SWNS)“I was astonished because the one service we got was somebody issuing fines. He asked me, “Do you recognise this bag?”
“Of course I said 'yes' and he said 'I’m giving you this fine' and cautioned me - it’s very intimidating. He had his camera on and, just like the police, he read me my rights.
“I was flabbergasted,. I said 'this isn’t even my rubbish apart from the stuff at the bottom'. I recounted what I’d done, said I’d gone out and picked all this litter up, which was pretty vile litter, and put it in the bin.
“And he said “Well, it’s not in the bin now.” And I said well no, because it’s been pulled out of the bin and ripped open, which completely illustrates my point this is what keeps happening.”
When Ms Post tried to appeal she was told over email that her only recourse was taking National Enforcement Solutions to court.
A Rother District Council spokesperson said: “Enforcement began in the summer to tackle the growing issue of fly-tipping and littering, which is a real blight on our district. Enforcement officers can only deal with the situation they come across.
Woman brands husband 'disgusting' for refusing to flush the loo in the night
"In this case, rubbish was found on the ground containing Olivia Post’s name and address, suggesting the resident had failed to dispose of her waste properly, and she was given an on-the-spot fine.
"We appreciate there are sometimes circumstances we are not aware of and, having heard from Ms Post, we will reimburse her for the cost of the penalty notice as a gesture of goodwill.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
