Blundering council fine couple £1,200 after they clean rubbish off street
Stoke Council has been slammed by a couple after they were fined £600 for trying to clean up their street.
A blundering council has fined a couple £1,200 after they cleaned rubbish off their street.
Veronika Mike and Zoltan Pinter say the street outside their home in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was plagued by rubbish for years.
They claim it was attracting rats, with people dumping rubbish that was never collected by the council.
Wanting to do something about it, Mr Pinter decided to clear the street and filled a cardboard box with food scraps and thrown-away packaging to prevent it from blowing into the road.
“I couldn’t put it in the bins because they were full, so I left it beside them,” Mr Pinter said.
He left the cardboard box for collection and was quickly hit with a fine from Stock-on-Trent Council who issued him a fixed penalty notice for illegal dumping and a £600 fine.
The letter from the Regulatory Services Environmental Crime Unit showed a picture of the box and stated that the fixed penalty notice was for “failing to transfer household waste to an authorised authority”.
Ms Mike and Mr Piker sent a letter to the council cosigned by neighbours confirming the situation. They also tried to appeal the fine but were told the law is “black and white”.
The council has not rescinded the fines which the couple is still paying off on a monthly basis.
Councillor Amjid Wazir OBE, cabinet member for city pride, enforcement and sustainability advised: “This matter has been resolved and all liability discharged.
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“We remind residents and businesses that fly-tipping is an offence and all perpetrators will be met with a fixed penalty notice.”
The couple, who have set up a GoFundMe to recoup some of the money lost, said they will never clear their street again “even if the rats come”.
“We just wanted to clean our street and that’s the thanks we get from the council. At first I was very angry and I cried,” Ms Mike said.
“I have volunteered for litter picking before and I essentially did the same thing and got two £600 penalties for nothing.”
