Schoolgirl, 5, slapped with £1,000 tremendous and hit with threats of being dragged earlier than the courts after native council ‘caught her fly-tipping’

A family have been left outraged after a five-year-old girl was slapped with a £1,000 fine after a north London council claimed they ‘caught her fly-tipping’.

The schoolgirl’s father was told by Harrow Council’s Environmental Enforcement Team that one of their officers had caught her committing the act in north London.

However, the furious father strongly refuted the allegation, claiming it was ‘absurd’ to fine a five-year-old.

The council first issued a letter on November 20 saying the young girl was ‘witnessed by a uniformed officer… committing the offence of fly-tipping’.

The schoolgirl was then hit with a final reminder letter from the enforcement team on December 5.

With Christmas just around the corner, she was advised that they were ‘about to instruct the council’s legal team to start court proceedings’ against her. The letter also warned her that a conviction carries a maximum £2,500 fine.

It later emerged that no officer did see it and instead a parcel with the girl’s name on was found a street away from her home address.

The girl’s father, who wished to remain anonymous, said the packaging would have ended up there due to the communal bins in the area being full. 

A family have been left outraged after a five-year-old girl was slapped with a £1,000 fine after a north London council allegedly caught her ‘fly-tipping’. (File image)

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: ‘This FPN was addressed to my five-year-old daughter, notifying her that a £1,000 fine had to be paid due to a fly-tipping offence she supposedly committed.

‘I am seriously concerned about the financial impact of this fine and it causing my daughter undue stress for her age.’

The father said he tried to appeal the fine on the council website, but was not able to.

He claims he also attended a council advice session at Harrow Library but was told he had to report it online or call the council directly.

The father then claims he sent an email which bounced back before being held on the phone for 40 minutes until someone picked up and told him ‘they could do nothing’.

The parent later attended a ward surgery held by his local councillor, Stephen Hickman.

Cllr Hickman told the LDRS: ‘Charging a child is ridiculous and the process has been very stressful for their father. I am hopeful that the council will look again at his case and review its protocols.’

However, the local council has now been forced to rescind the fine and say that fining children ‘is not official council policy’.

The father claims he made multiple attempts to seek help from Harrow Council (file image)

A spokesman for APCOA said: ‘The Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) resulted from investigation of waste that had been fly-tipped; the age of the individual was not known.

‘However, the FPN should have been cancelled on appeal.

‘APCOA has already contacted the family concerned to apologise and confirm that the FPN has been cancelled.

‘We have also taken steps to avoid a similar situation recurring as this case has not met our usual high standards of service.’

Harrow Council has been approached for comment.