'Outrageous' fly-tipping fine rescinded after Wood Green resident's appeal

Latest resident to be wrongly accused of fly-tipping slams Haringey Council’s enforcement team, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

A Wood Green resident has slammed an “outrageous” fly-tipping fine she received after a crate of paving tiles was temporarily left outside her house.

Anna Loutfi, who lives in Hornsey Park Road, was shocked to find Haringey Council had sent her a £400 fixed-penalty notice (FPN) “for doing nothing unlawful” – and said anyone who was “thinking straight” could see it was not fly-tipping.

Anna and her partner are having refurbishment works carried out on their back garden and have a skip at the front of the house to dispose of the waste. Last month, she said, they received a delivery of three crates of paving tiles, which workers took round to the back of the house one-by-one.

During that time, an enforcement officer had snapped a photo of one of the crates while it was on the pavement and issued the FPN.

Anna said: “They [the workers] noticed an enforcement officer watching them. In the time it took for these men to take all the tiles to the back, this photograph had been taken of one of the crates left slightly on the pavement by the delivery driver. On 28th April, we were issued with a fixed-penalty notice of £400 to pay within 14 days.

“From the photo, it looks like it is on the pavement. But it is heavy tiles in a crate in front of a skip. If someone was thinking straight, it would be impossible to see it as tipping waste.

“I feel it is absolutely outrageous that a maximum fine was slapped on us for doing nothing unlawful.”

Anna said the letter stated that they had been found to be fly-tipping under the Environmental Protection Act and would be taken to court if they disagreed or failed to pay – with a maximum penalty of up to £50,000 or twelve months imprisonment if found guilty.

The council has now cancelled the FPN after they successfully appealed. But Anna said the letter had given no information on how to appeal, and she had to search the council’s website to find out how to do so.

Last year, Haringey Civic Centre had to pay back more than £40,000 to residents who had been wrongly accused of fly-tipping after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found one of its policies – which treated people as fly-tippers if they left their bins out at the wrong time or their collection was missed – was “flawed”.

Government guidance on the Environmental Protection Act says councils cannot issue FPNs for minor problems such as leaving waste out early and should issue a written warning before imposing fines for more serious infringements. Council leader Peray Ahmet said the council had immediately amended the policy following the ombudsman’s ruling.

But Anna said her FPN suggested the policy had not been changed. She said a lot of families would find it impossible to pay the £400 fines, particularly as they are currently “squeezed financially”. Others could be “confused” and “bewildered” by the letter and might pay rather than contest them, she added.

Anna is a barrister, but she said she would not want to have to go to court to make her case and face possible imprisonment if she lost. Suggesting the council was using the FPNs to raise money, she questioned whether it offered incentives to enforcement officers that would encourage them to issue penalties.

A council spokesperson said it “only fines in good faith and does not offer any kind of incentive to an enforcement officer”.

They added: “The council has a process for challenging FPNs which can be found on our website, and the representation that a resident or business makes will be independently reviewed.

“FPNs can be rescinded if they are issued incorrectly, there is insufficient evidence to proceed to court, or it would not be in the public interest to proceed.”

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