Man abandons legal fight and accepts £200 fine for flytipping
A man has abandoned his legal fight and accepted a £200 fine for flytipping after leaving three bags of his late aunt’s belongings near an Asda charity bin.
Kevin Turner, 63, from Swineshead, Lincolnshire, had left the three bags on the ground on May 26 last year because he could not fully open the Salvation Army bin hatch.
He drove his uncle’s car from Skegness to Boston to drop off the bags and said that no warnings were left to tell people not to leave donations.
After leaving the bags, the 63-year-old received a fixed penalty notice of £200 that he paid himself to save his recently-bereaved relative more heartache.
Mr Turner, a house husband from Swineshead, contacted Boston Borough Council following the launch of an appeal against the fine in July last year.
His appeal failed, which he claimed was due to a false statement by a member of the council’s ‘Flyswat’ team that said: ‘It appears you ascertained the bin was not full.’
Mr Turner was due to take the council to Boston County Court on August 15 but abandoned his claim because two council officers, a barrister and another lawyer attended on the scheduled hearing date.
Kevin Turner, 63, from Swineshead, Lincolnshire, pictured, had left the three bags on the ground on May 26 last year because he could not fully open the Salvation Army bin hatch at an Asda in Boston
Mr Turner, who was due to represent himself, said: ‘There would have been no way of me even finishing a sentence, let alone winning. I felt completely overwhelmed. I just felt it was a lost cause.’
A statement of costs form submitted to the court revealed that the council’s legal bill in defending the case was £2,743.51.
This works out at almost 14 times the £200 fine Mr Turner initially received.
The 63-year-old said: ‘It’s sickening that the council would rather spent this money on its defence than simply settle and refund my £200.’
According to Lincolnshire Live, the council had said it had a public duty to defend the case.
Boston Borough Council did set out its defence to the court before the hearing, with its position being that Mr Turner accepted the offence for which the fine was issued by voluntarily paying it.
The defence added: ‘The extenuating circumstances scheme was introduced by the defendant [the council] to enable a process for reviewing fixed penalty notices issued. This is not a statutory scheme to appeal the service of the FPN, it is a wholly discretionary scheme.
‘It is denied that the claimant [Mr Turner] can seek to challenge a decision made by the defendant under this discretionary scheme in the county court.. The claimant now seeks the return of the £200 paid after the issue of the FPN. He has advanced no basis upon which this remedy can be obtained by private law action.
‘The process for issue of the FPN was carried out under the provision of the Environmental Protection Act. The claimant’s case should be struck out as showing no basis for the claim, or any reasonable prospect of succeeding.’
A council spokeswoman said: ‘On the morning of the hearing on Monday, August 15, Mr Turner handed a letter to the court advising that he was discontinuing the case. The hearing went ahead in his absence and Boston Borough Council was awarded the full costs applied for.
Conservative councillor Paul Skinner, leader of Boston Borough Council, said: ‘I am pleased that the County Court Judge found in favour of the council and awarding full costs.
‘The council has a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping including at the bring-to sites like Asda car park. Anyone who fly-tips should expect a fixed penalty notice or follow the judicial process which is clearly communicated as part of the fine process.
