Council Fine

[lesliedocherty]

Hi,

One of the guys in the shop put a rubbish bag out, but not in a White bag (we buy the white ones from the council).

The member of staff next morning noticed and put it in a white bag, then later that day we got a visit from the council with a photograph of the rubbish bag and a £50 fine. (peeved that we noticed, remedied it without prompting and still got a fine).

Not sure of whether i could or should contest it or just pay it, whats the legalities of a council fine ?

 

[kulture]

Why not ask the council to let you off considering that you fixed it before they came.

 

[lesliedocherty]

i did, but the guy said, 'i dont make the rules, because we seen it we need to issue a fine, i know you changed it over before we arrived but the rules are the rules'

 

[tony84]

you get fines for putting rubbish in the wrong colour bin? what is the world coming to!!!

 

[Richie N]

We had a similar thing before, where we put the bins on the wrong side of the road (orange bins used, only up to a certain point on the road then seperate company on the other side is white bin bags).
Absolutely crazy....

 

[Dawg]

You will probably be better just paying up and moving on. If you fight it will take ages to resolve, hours of time, and would it be worth it?

Goes against the grain, I know, but...

 

[stugster]

At least you've not got trams.








... oh no, neither do we.

 

You will probably be better just paying up and moving on. If you fight it will take ages to resolve, hours of time, and would it be worth it?

Goes against the grain, I know, but...

Oh come on someone has to fight this nonsense.

Tell em it was not rubbish,just the old mans clothes after you flung him out.:|

Common sense seems to be a tad lacking in the brave new world.

Earl

 

[Merchant UK]

10 years ago if you said to me that you would get a fine for putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong bag/bin, i would of laughed at you, nowdays there seems to be a Fine/penaulty Cuture by so call jobsworths on extracting the most money from taxpayers.

Crazy

 

[kulture]

Ok, seriously now, what exactly was the offence? What evidence does the council have? What would their next step be if you did not pay.

 

[MikeJ]

At least you've not got trams.

... oh no, neither do we.

That's not true, there's one on Princes St!

 

[jules12345]

Measure Equivalent to a Quantative Restriction

Always ask a pro im only an LPC student.

 

[Nick666]

Presumably it'll be a fine for failing to comply with a waste receptacle notice (Environmental Protection Act 1990 s.47 I think it is), I imagine there'd be two ways you could go with this, but quite honestly it's not worth it unless you're a ridiculously small business and about to go under as well! The council is very unlikely to lose, esp if they've got photo evidence that you submitted your waste in a receptacle other than that permitted in the notice.

Having said that and assuming that you want to spend hours of your time fighting it OR don't like your employee much:

1) you could blame it on him and point out that you provide training and advice to your staff on how to dispose of the waste properly
2) you could fight it in court on the basis that the notice (maybe) wasn't served properly or isn't signed properly, but even then it'd probably go against you unless they were real idiots, as they only really have to show they were acting in good faith

Basically I'd just cough up the £50 as probably if they wanted to stretch it a bit they could do you under s.34 of the same act in failing in your duty of care as well / instead, which carries fairly hefty penalties...

Both offences carry criminal convictions and fairly hefty maximum penalties if found guilty (although clearly you'd be more likely to just receive a slap on the wrist unless the magistrate was grumpy that day!)

 

[Nick666]

Small disclaimer re the above:

I'm not a solicitor or barrister, or in any way legally qualified. I'm a council officer, I'd like to think I'm one of the reasonable ones, who'd have come to say hello and point out what your staff were doing wrong first, but unfortunately dodgy businesses cost councils hundreds of millions in collecting waste and clearing up fly tipping etc that (esp these days!) could be spent on other things like schools, so a lot of councils are giving up on the nicey nicey approach and just hammering everybody. I'll keep my opinion to myself as to whether I think that's the best approach!

 

[Kernowman]

This is just another example of how the individual's rights have been so badly eroded to the point of absurdity and if a fast buck can be made out of it the government are more than happy to add the enforcement legislation

The money grabbing mentality has completely pervaded local and national government and I can only see it getting worse, because they believe we all have that fabled Money Tree growing in our back gardens don't we?

 

[papverpoppies]

Fight it - shutting up and coughing up, sure it's the easier option, but this is a wrong coloured bag, not GBH!

We have gone bonkers as a Country, trivia like this is stamped on, and yet real crime goes unpunished.

It's because most people take the 'I cannot be bothered to fight it' attitude that they continue to get away with it.

We had a case of a man who put some cardboard out for collection, they refused to take it, becasue it was not in the bin all nicely cut up.

He went to the press, to show just how ludicrous this ALL is, and he won.

I do not know what Councils want us to do, they say we have to cut back on what we dump, but how can we, when there is NO attempt to get manufacturers to stop using needless packaging, why make us PAY!

Petty bureaucracy and pen pushers,once upon a time men had 'real' jobs.

Rant over, back to writing........


POppy xx

 

[copycad]

I would contest it as the chances are it will cost them more than the £50 fine in administration costs by fighting with you. What do you have to lose ?

 

[stugster]

I would contest it as the chances are it will cost them more than the £50 fine in administration costs by fighting with you. What do you have to lose ?

Aye, but it's not them paying is it? At the end of the day, it's us that pay either way. The council will throw good money after bad just to prove a point or to keep someone in a job.

 

[Kernowman]

Hi,

One of the guys in the shop put a rubbish bag out, but not in a White bag (we buy the white ones from the council).

The member of staff next morning noticed and put it in a white bag, then later that day we got a visit from the council with a photograph of the rubbish bag and a £50 fine. (peeved that we noticed, remedied it without prompting and still got a fine).

Not sure of whether i could or should contest it or just pay it, whats the legalities of a council fine ?

So, let me get this clear, are you saying that the rubbish was put out the day before the collection was due in a rubbish bag not supplied by the council, but THE FOLLOWING DAY (presumably the day of the collection?) a member of staff then subsequently put the rubbish into a council supplied white bag, which then was put into the refuse lorry? The summary is that an approved council supplied white bag went into the refuse lorry. Yes?

Then you have no case to answer, the fine will not be paid and threaten them with some juicy media coverage to show what a bunch of jobsworths ******* they really are. This sort of things makes I mad it do

 

[CKG]

I seem to always fall foul of these stupid, sham, made for money grabbing regulations by just going about my day to day business in a normal fasion.

To cut a series of long, annoying and unjust stories short.

It really isn't worth fighting, not even over principle. The regs have you stitched up like a kipper most of the time and common sense rarely prevails.

 

[rattytattydesigns]

You could always contact the local paper, Use it as a bit of pr for your shop. How you noticed and put it right, your not bothered for yourselves but you do think that someone should speak out againts council stupidity for all the people who get caught out in a similar way and find it difficult to get a voice .

 

[Kernowman]

I seem to always fall foul of these stupid, sham, made for money grabbing regulations by just going about my day to day business in a normal fasion.

To cut a series of long, annoying and unjust stories short.

It really isn't worth fighting, not even over principle. The regs have you stitched up like a kipper most of the time and common sense rarely prevails.

If the council's rules state quite clearly that "All rubbish must be in white bags before collection" then the OP has not broken the rules. If so, the best way to deal with these half-wits is to let them put their own rope round their own necks.

 

[lesliedocherty]

i didn't pay the fine, now received a letter saying they may report me to the procurator fiscal, cant wait

 

[Kernowman]

i didn't pay the fine, now received a letter saying they may report me to the procurator fiscal, cant wait

That's my boy, a true Scot. So proud, I'm filling up here

 

[stugster]

To be honest matey, the procurator will probably throw it out. If you explain the situation clearly and calmly anyway

 

[lesliedocherty]

thats what i reckon, i'm sure the fiscals office is a tad busy to deal with something a silly as this.