Been FINED £75.00 off council !!!!?

awphotog

Phone them and explain the situation.
Do you have any proof of the theft - i.e. did you call the police and get a crime number?
Or have you got witnesses to the theft?

If you have proof of the theft then tell the council to take a hike and argue it out in court.
If you have no proof then you are on a loser as the courts will take the council word over yours.

mark90_2k2

Did you report your wheely stolen before you received the letter? That will be your only option - this is a rotten situation and I cant see any way out of it unless you have proof your wheely was stolen, i.e reporting it missing

Kayyyyyyte

phone the council, they should be able to sort it out and possibly find whoever dumped the rubbish there.

Daz

go and see your local ombudsman and explain to him whats happened, he should sort this prob out for you. i wouldnt pay iether.

sweetie

i can understand them nicking your wheelie bin but would they steal your rubbish as well? unless you all really had rubbish in it, right a letter and explain what happened x

thomaszabbott

Don't worry. With this there must be an appeal course built in.

It might state it on the letter, or they don't want to advertise it, because they know peoplw usualy win them!

They cannot prove that you did it. There is no court in the land that would admit it into a case (not that it will get to court).

Get in contact with them, be polite but firm, and insist that the matter is investigated further. They won't want to bother with it-trust me.

Also helpful if you reported your bin stolen; will be direct evidence.

Good luck!

ZCT

Contact them and demand a meeting. Explain that your wheelie bin was stolen, and that whoever stole your bin was responsible for dumping the rubbish.

It makes little sense that you would take the trouble to take your trash to some abandoned site, when you could have simply placed it in your wheelie bin.

Refuse to pay and take it to court if you have to. The fact that some of your rubbish was dumped there is not proof that you or someone living in your home dumped it there. Without proof, they have no case.

Update:

I'd give them a call on Monday. Explain what happened, and ask them to drop the fine. If they refuse to participate tell them that you will go to the media and tell them what happened.

Can you imagine the bad publicity of a local council dragging a heavily pregnant woman to court, trying to fine her Â£2,500 because some of her trash was taken out of her wheelie bin and dumped illegally? The council has no proof, and I don't imagine some pregnant woman is going to waddle down the road with a rubbish bag, just so she can dump it illegally. It makes no sense.

Such unfair treatment would certainly anger some local newspapers and local news stations. A few phone calls and there would be some VERY red faces at the local council office.

So call them on Monday, tell them to drop the unreasonable fine, and if they refuse call local TV and newspapers, and start giving interviews.

No court is going to convict you or fine you Â£2,500 based on what you have said. The fact they found some of your mail in a bag, does not prove you were ever there, nor does it prove you committed a crime.

fishywiki

My parents gave some books to charity collectors and ended up in the same situation. My Dad paid up rather than go through the hassle, but I think that was silly. Challenge it - you'll probably have to go to court. There's no way they can prove that you actually dumped the rubbish.

What did your CAB say? Or have you been silly enough to trust this place for advice? Get *real* legal advice.

emily

I had exactly the same thing happen to me, someone went through my wheelie bin and just dumped the contents all over the nearby streets. The council found rubbish bags with my mail in and sent us a letter saying they were fining us. I wrote them a letter back saying that someone had gone through our bin and that if they want to start handing out stupid fines like that, they should provide lockable wheelie bins. Got a letter back off them saying that they were dropping the fine, I have since started shredding my mail though, I don't like the thought of randoms on the street being able to read it.

Stellar Meg

In these days of identity fraud, why are you putting identifiable waste into your "wheelie bin". Quite frankly you have got off lightly.

Nickleback

Write to them telling them your side of the story. Take it to your local papers too.

vdv_desantnik

Firstly, good luck with the baby, and im sorry that you have had this land on your lap at this time

Write to the council and explain about the bin theft, and state that you are willing to have your case heard in court if needs be. Although the standard of proof in a civil court is much lower than that for a criminal court, they dont even have the level of proof here to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt so I dont think you have anything to worry about.

Good luck!!!

Bardic

I think the Council are looking at The Waste (Household Waste) Duty of Care (England & Wales) Regulations 2005 which introduced a new duty on householders on 21 November 2005. Under this duty, householders are required to take reasonable measures to ensure that household waste produced on their property is passed on to an authorised person. In short, its your (our) problem until the Council collects it.

If you can demonstrate that you did indeed take "reasonable care" by, perhaps, keeping the bin secure on your premises until you put it out on "dustbin day", you should be okay.

We've had to keep ours locked in the garage to avoid just this problem. Plus shred any paper that has name, address, reference numbers etc. on it.

Max Power says relax

As long as you had the good idea to report the theft of your bin , then you should submit the crime report number as your defense ,if not then unfortunately the bin was your responsibility and therefore you will have to pay up , remember ignorance is not a defense ,and the refuse belonged to you until collected by your authorized collector

sailor

yeah fight them but remember shred your letters and any other documents before putting them in the bucket next time good luck

B Rodrigues

Hello Guys, Mine is the same case but slightly different. This is the 3rd time our bin has been stolen from our driveway, though we have our house number on it. We are quite amazed why its only happening to us though we can see all our neighbours bin lying intact. Should we complain to the council and police so that they can see who the culpurit is or just ignore. Please help as it is concerning me a bit. Any advise will be helpful.

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