Now council snoopers can fine you £110 if you leave empty wheelie bin out longer than 12 hours

Published 09th Mar 2011

Residents have been warned they could be fined £110 or even face court action for leaving their wheelie bins out for any longer than 12 hours after they have been emptied.

The threat that people could be criminalised for leaving their bins out is made in a leaflet distributed to people in Dawdon, Sunderland, by Durham County Council.

It cites the £200,000 cost of replacing hundreds of bins - which the council says are being stolen at an alarming rate - and the risk of arson as its reasons for doing so.

The leaflet states: 'Wheelie bin fires take up valuable fire fighting resources and pose a significant risk to the public.

'Enforcement powers are available and will be considered for use in cases of non-compliance.'

When detailing the Section 46 powers provided by the Environmental Protection Act, it says: 'This legislation requires you to remove your receptacle from the street/collection point not more than 12 hours after it has been emptied and return it to your property.

'Failure to comply with this time scale will result in the home owner/tenant being issued with a Sec 46 Notice.

'Should a resident fail to comply with the Notice, you will be committing a criminal offence each time after an officer identified the Notice being breached.'

But the move to use the legislation on such a trivial issue has caused outrage amongst some residents who say they may not be able to meet the deadline due to work and other commitments.

Robert Blair, a 59-year-old community activist, said: 'In Dawdon in the past, there has been a lot of unemployment but now people are working because of some good initiatives, but this kind of policy is making life hard for people who work.


SUCH RUBBISH: WHAT CAN'T YOU BE FINED FOR?
Ruth Boden-Webster

This is not the first instance of council snoopers proving over-zealous - especially where rubbish is concerned.

Earlier this month we reported how self-confessed eco warrior Ruth Boden-Webster, 50, is facing a £50,000 fine after leaving a washing up bottle next to an over-flowing bin in Milton Keynes.

Miss Boden left the bottle outside the recycling bin because the council hadn't emptied it. Yet she received a letter from the council accusing her of 'fly-tipping' and demanding she pays a £75 fine.

She refused to pay the fine on principle, and now faces being taken to court and even a prison sentence of up to five years for fly-tipping.

In Heaton Mersey, Greater Manchester, pensioner Peter Broderick is currently facing a £20,000 fine because the council objected to the door he put on his Grade II listed cottage.

The £600 white door was ruled to be out of keeping with the character of the building because it contained a small glass panel.

Last November we told how thousands of families in Islington, London, faced on-the-spot fines of £110 if they put rubbish in the wrong recycling bins.

In August 2010 it was revealed that Bedford Borough Council had spent £100,000 on a mobile camera to dish out parking fines to school-run mothers.

The state-of-the-art camera is mounted on top of a traffic warden's car and driven past 80 schools when parents are dropping off or picking up their children. Any parent caught stopping on double-yellow lines at the school gates will be photographed and fined £60.

'They go shopping after working 12 hours or they have to visit their gran, people have social lives, and the bins aren't their priority.

'I think it doesn't help people who are making a living and can't get things done.

'The environmental services are very good round here - they collected bins when it was snowing, but I don't understand this new rule.

'I know people who work away who put the bins out and come back two days later.

'It's a very harsh fine, particularly when you are looking at a family that's unemployed.

'I don't think there's a problem with the bins particularly, but they shouldn't be threatening people with fines.

'Dealing with something like this is absolutely ridiculous.'

The council's street scene area manager Keith Parkinson acknowledged leaflets had been distributed which urged people to take their bins in.

He said the fines were not enforceable until the council served section 46 notices for non-compliance and that they would talk to residents before issuing fines.

'I must stress we are not trying to be unreasonable with people and, yes, people do have different life balances,' he said.

'But what we have in areas like Dawdon, which is a small ex-colliery area with back yards and narrow streets, is people who will leave bins out all week.

'And there is no reason for that. Bins are getting stolen at an alarming rate.'

He said it cost the council £200,000 a year to replace wheelie bins across County Durham and there was a significant arson risk when bins were left out.

The figure of £110 is £30 more than the penalty handed out to shoplifters.

It is £60 more than the fine handed to Emdadur Choudhury this week for setting light to poppies on Remembrance Day and yelling 'British soldiers burn in hell'.

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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