Friend getting done for fly tipping - be warned!

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Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
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Well this is absolutely horrible. A friend of ours was having her kitchen redone back in June. The builder had finished and had arranged for someone to come and collect the rubbish. Tiles etc. I guess. It was all put in her front garden (not in the street). On the very day that person was due to come, a guy turns up, doesn't speak great English but she gathers that he is there to take the rubbish away. He does so.

Fast forward to August-ish and Buckinghamshire council contact her, accuse her of fly tipping and say she needs to come to a police station for a recorded interview. She is obviously really upset about this, doesn't really understand what she's done. Turns out they found her rubbish dumped by the side of a motorway or something (she lives in London), found some bits with her name and address on and basically went from there. So she has to go to a police station for an interview, then doesn't hear anything for a while.

Now, a week or so ago she's heard back from them and they're taking her to court :(:mad:

How mad is this? We know the law dictates you have to be responsible for her rubbish, but she was :confused: So, basically someone could rob your house, find rubbish, dump it and you'd get into trouble for it? :confused: What nonsense. Shame on Buckinghamsire council, how absolutely pathetic :mad:

We're not sure what we can do to help, my girlfriend helpfully has a text from her saying when the builder is due to collect the rubbish so we've saved that. But it feels like a losing battle. She could actually get a criminal record for this? :confused:

Anyway, any thoughts, advice etc appreciated. And make sure you take your name off any delivery packages before you put them out in the bin!
 
Sad story but either she will be able to contact the firm who dealt with this and sort it out or its a lesson that you have to be careful. I imagine that she could kick up a fuss and take the builders to court if it came to that.

If it was as simple as saying "I paid someone to take it away" and you can get away with fly tipping then whats the point of trying to stop it.
 
itchy said:
If she did not get a receipt from builder or whoever disposed of her rubbish then she screwed. :(
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It all hinges on this, surely.

You can see it from the council's point of view - if everybody just said "Oh I paid someone to take it away, but I've not got a receipt, sorry" then everybody would have a ready-made excuse for fly tipping. They wouldn't be able to prosecute anyone unless they caught them in the act.

But if there's proof that somebody was paid to take it away, then surely they can't be prosecuted? (IANAL). I would have thought then the situation would be the same as if somebody bought something from you and then threw it away - its' not your fault because you ceased being the owner/ the person responsible for it.

Must all come down to proof of that transaction, I would have thought (common sense doesn't always prevail tho!).
 
Surely she will never be found guilty of actually fly tipping all that crap herself lmao!?? I hope she's got a good solicitor, neighbours willing to testify that someone else took it away, etc.
 
It doesn't have to come down to a receipt. If you can prove someone else took it away, that should clear her. It used to actually be that they had to prove your guilt rather than you prove your innocence. I'm not sure if that's still true in this country, but it certainly sounds like she should be able to show someone else had collected it.
 
How did they trace it back to her in the first place I wonder?...

As others have said, without proper evidence - Like a receipt - from the builder, it doesn't look like she'll have much luck defending herself...

You have to look at it from the councils perspective - They have to go after fly tippers aggressively or else they get away with it and it eats into their funds. And at this moment, they don't have any evidence that it wasn't her in the first place.
 
Don't know how far it extends to domestic refurbishment type stuff but in construction you have a duty of care to ensure whoever takes your waste is licensed to do so, could be tough if the work is deemed to be under CDM
 
Marky said:
You have to look at it from the councils perspective - They have to go after fly tippers aggressively or else they get away with it and it eats into their funds. And at this moment, they don't have any evidence that it wasn't her in the first place.
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Yeah but you need to look at it from the Law's perspective. What court is going to say she's guilty of dumping a load of rubbish next to a motorway, just because there is no evidence to the contrary??? :confused:
 
Marky said:
You have to look at it from the councils perspective - They have to go after fly tippers aggressively or else they get away with it and it eats into their funds. And at this moment, they don't have any evidence that it wasn't her in the first place.
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And fly tipping/ littering is a big problem. A growing problem also.

Many people these days are thoughtless enough not to understand that's it's the wrong thing to do...
 
Marky said:
How did they trace it back to her in the first place I wonder?...

As others have said, without proper evidence - Like a receipt - from the builder, it doesn't look like she'll have much luck defending herself...

You have to look at it from the councils perspective - They have to go after fly tippers aggressively or else they get away with it and it eats into their funds. And at this moment, they don't have any evidence that it wasn't her in the first place.
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Her name and address was amongst the rubbish
 
has a text from her saying when the builder is due to collect the rubbish
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This is all you need, it provides reasonable doubt (i assume the text is dated back from when it was collected).
 
asim18 said:
Yeah but you need to look at it from the Law's perspective. What court is going to say she's guilty of dumping a load of rubbish next to a motorway, just because there is no evidence to the contrary??? :confused:
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Did you miss the bit where they have her name and address on some of the rubbish?
 
Depends if this is a civil case or criminal case as to what standard of evidence is required. Civil case, if there's no evidence to the contrary it might be enough.
 
FoxEye said:
And fly tipping/ littering is a big problem. A growing problem also.

Many people these days are thoughtless enough not to understand that's it's the wrong thing to do...
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Indeed :( I see it all the time :(

asim18 said:
Yeah but you need to look at it from the Law's perspective. What court is going to say she's guilty of dumping a load of rubbish next to a motorway, just because there is no evidence to the contrary??? :confused:
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Hmm a fair point... I guess it depends on how good your solicitor is :p
 
asim18 said:
Yeah but you need to look at it from the Law's perspective. What court is going to say she's guilty of dumping a load of rubbish next to a motorway, just because there is no evidence to the contrary??? :confused:
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Marky said:
Hmm a fair point... I guess it depends on how good your solicitor is :p
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In all likelihood, this isn't the first person they've taken to court, and they might actually know more than we do about the chances of winning the case :p

Believe it or not, some people who work for the council actually know what they're doing :p
 
they are not taking her to court saying she dumped it

if you pay somebody to take it away its your responsibility

the law says

If you are asking a third party (e.g. builder) to remove your waste as part of a job, you should ensure that they are a registered waste carrier. Ask to see their certificate, or alternatively check with the Environment Agency.

if you employ a contractor they should be able to dispose of the waste legally
 
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