A single mother has been fined £1,000 for fly-tipping after she left an envelope next to an overflowing bin.
Loretta Alvarez placed the cardboard envelope on top of some boxes by the communal bins outside her flat in Feltham, west London, which are shared by 25 other households.
She assumed council workers would take the rubbish when they came to collect the waste.
But the 26-year-old was shocked to receive a penalty notice from Hounslow Council, which said that fly-tipping includes leaving waste anywhere in public other than inside a bin, even if the bins are already full.
The fuming mother of two said she cannot afford to pay and is now being threatened with legal action.
Ms Alvarez said she would ‘never intentionally’ dump rubbish in the open, adding: ‘It’s been so stressful. I didn’t want this to happen, I wouldn’t want it to happen to someone else.’
She went on to say: ‘I don’t have that money to give, I can’t afford getting into debt to pay it, and I don’t want to get a mark on my record.
Loretta Alvarez placed the cardboard envelope on top of some boxes by the communal bins outside her flat in Feltham, west London
The cardboard envelope on top of some boxes by the communal bins outside her flat
Ms Alvarez was fined for fly-tipping the envelope on top of the cardboard box outside her flat
The small envelope was left on top of a box outside her flat. Ms Alvarez was fined £1,000 for fly-tipping
‘I’m a mental health nurse, I went to university for three years.’
Labour-run Hounslow Council has told her she must pay by November 5 or risk being criminally charged. Ms Alvarez said: ‘They’re fining me more than someone gets for speeding.’
The £1,000 fixed penalty is a national rate set by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, which Hounslow Council has adopted to ensure its enforcement policy is consistent with other local authorities.
As a Fixed Penalty Notice, the amount is not means-tested and does not vary based on personal circumstances.
The BBC, which first reported the story, said the council has paused the fine while reviewing the case, but it has not been withdrawn, and the authority remains adamant that the penalty stands.
‘We are clear that we have done the right thing in dealing with this, and issuing the fine, because fly-tipping includes leaving waste anywhere in public apart from in a bin, regardless of whether bins are full.
‘While we accept that no one likes receiving a fine, residents expect us to tackle the offence and the offenders.
‘As well as making our streets look neglected, it represents an added cost to Council taxpayers, who have to foot the bill for fly-tipping.’
It’s not the first time West Londoners have been punished by their local authority for what appeared to be a trivial act.
As previously reported by the Mail, Burcu Yesilyurt, from Kew, west London, said she poured a small amount of her drink down a roadside drain because she didn’t want to spill it on the bus.
Moments later, she was ‘shocked’ to see three enforcement officers ‘chasing’ her down the street as she waited at a bus stop near Richmond station.
The officers fined her £150 under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, reduced to £100 if paid within 14 days. Ms Yesilyurt said the experience was ‘quite intimidating’ and left her feeling ‘shaky’ on her way to work.
Burcu Yesilyurt (pictured) was slapped with a £150 fine by council officers after pouring the remnants of her coffee down the drain
The drain which Ms Yesilyurt poured the last little bit of her coffee down in Richmond, west London
Three male enforcement officers ‘chased’ Ms Yesilyurt down the street as she stood at the bus stop near Richmond station (pictured)
Richmond-upon-Thames Council insisted its officers ‘acted professionally and objectively’ and were ‘justified’ in issuing the fine.
Ms Yesilyurt told the BBC: ‘I noticed my bus was approaching, so I just poured the leftover bit. It wasn’t much, it was just a tiny little bit.
‘As soon as I turned around, I noticed three men, enforcement officers, chasing me, and they stopped me immediately.’
The council later cancelled the fine and said it was ‘reviewing our advice on the disposal of liquids in a public place.’
Similar heavy-handed enforcement has been seen elsewhere. Last year, Stoke-on-Trent Council fined a couple £400 for putting an envelope in a public bin.
Deborah and Ian Day, from Bentilee, were tracked down by the address on the discarded envelope and issued £200 fines each.
Council investigators said the act breached sections 87 and 88 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, ruling that household waste cannot be placed in public bins.
A Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesperson said at the time: ‘Stoke-on-Trent City Council is maintaining its zero-tolerance approach to illegal dumping in our towns and with that comes enforcement. We are continuing with proactive patrolling and investigations.
‘Once an area is under investigation and while evidence is being processed, we arrange for the removal of the waste with our cleansing teams. This case is currently under investigation with our Environmental Crime Team.
‘Fixed Penalty Notices are issued as an alternative to prosecution proceedings in court. We are committed to working together to clean up our city and will enforce, where evidence supports, against waste offences.’
