Grandmother, 83, is threatened with legal conviction if she doesn’t pay £600 nice for ‘fly-tipping’ a single cardboard field
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A grandmother has been threatened with a criminal conviction if she does not pay a £600 fine for allegedly fly-tipping a single cardboard box.
Carole Wright, 83, from Reading, ‘doesn’t want to go on’ after simply trying to recycle her rubbish, according to her daughter.
The grandmother-of-four said she took some rubbish to her local recycling drop-off outside Milestone Centre, and believed she had disposed of it all properly.
But days later, she received a letter from an environmental enforcement contractor on behalf of Reading Council, which said Ms Wright could be hit with a criminal conviction for fly-tipping.
It included a photograph of a worker holding up a box bearing the former nurse’s address, alongside another picture of overflowing bins in the background.
Her daughter Catherine said her mother insists she put the cardboard box, from a new egg-poaching pan, in the bin – and they believe it must have blown out.
Despite their protestations, Reading Council is pursuing the case – which Catherine said is having a grave effect on her mother’s health.
The authority said it remained ‘fully open to dialogue’ over the claims of ‘extenuating circumstances’.
Carole Wright, 83, from Reading, has been hit with a fine and threatened with a conviction after allegedly fly-tipping one cardboard box
She believed the she disposed of the rubbish correctly outside the Milestone Centre recycling drop-off point
Carole received this letter from a council contractor showing the offending box and an overflowing bin
Catherine, 50, said: ‘My mum keeps saying she doesn’t want to go on any more. She’s just staring at walls, crying. She’s not eating.
‘Her health has really declined since this all happened.
‘I’m just so worried about her, she’s such a lovely person – she’s the best mum you could ever have.
‘She moved here 57 years ago, she’s never done anything wrong. She’s committed no crimes.
‘I just think it’s awful that they’re targeting this poor woman for a single box at her age.’
‘[The bins] were overflowing – she’s turning 84 soon so she’s a bit forgetful.
‘She said she thought she’d put it in the bin, and thought nothing of it.
‘They said she had to pay £600 in full within days and, if they didn’t hear anything, they’d take her to court.’
Catherine said the family originally assumed the letter was a scam, until another dropped through the letterbox a month later.
Reading Council said that fly-tipping was one of the most significant concerns among locals, so it was cracking down
Carole has been crying and staring at a wall, saying she does not want to go on, according to her daughter
She phoned up Reading Council, who told her the letters were real and that she should contact Kingdom, who the council was contracting..
Catherine said: ‘[Reading Council] were not helpful at all, they gave me the number for Kingdom.
‘I rang them and I explained – I was in tears on the phone, saying this is really upsetting my mum, because she doesn’t know what to do.’
She was told that the case would only be dropped if she could give medical evidence that excused her mother’s alleged fly-tipping – but Catherine said she cannot provide this.
In January, Carole received another final demand letter from Kingdom, with Reading Council branding on the letterhead, again threatening court action.
Catherine said: ‘They said “you have failed to respond”, which isn’t true.
‘My brother even went into the council to ask what we could do, and the only thing they told him was to ring Reading Council support, which we’ve done.
‘It keeps going round and round in circles.’
She added of her mother: ‘She can’t afford the money. She keeps saying “they’re going to put me in prison”.
‘It’s just shocking, really. We don’t want to go to court, but we have no choice – they’ve said they’re going to take us to court.’
Catherine has launched a GoFundMe appeal to raise the £600 needed to pay her mother’s fine.
A Reading Council spokesperson said: ‘Residents have told the Council that tackling litter and fly tipping is one of their top priorities, and we have a duty to all residents to investigate any incidences of fly tipping.
‘After a box of waste was found at the site in October last year, further information was requested from Ms Wright but no response was received within the 30-day period.
‘Enforcement action only took place after that period, in the form of a fixed penalty notice.
‘Further to the claim from the family that there are extenuating circumstances for non-payment of the fine, Kingdom requested evidence to allow them to close the case. Nothing has yet been received.
‘We remain fully open to dialogue with Ms Wright and welcome her assistance to the investigation which we hope will allow them to close the case with no further action required.’
In a statement, Kingdom said: ‘Kingdom LAS are working closely with Reading Borough Council to help keep the streets clean and clear of rubbish.
‘Our officers work through education and enforcement to assist residents in understanding their responsibilities and we are always open to dialogue with members of the public.
‘In October last year, our officers working on behalf of Reading Borough Council identified a fly-tipped box of waste, which led to officers requesting further information from Ms Wright, to which no response was received within the 30 day period.
‘Following that, under Section 34ZA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a Fixed Penalty Notice was issued.
‘Further to the claim from the family that there are extenuating circumstances for non-payment of the fine, we requested evidence to allow us to close the case. Nothing has yet been received.
‘We remain fully open to dialogue with Ms Wright and hope we will be able to come to a resolution in this case.’
