Worthing man threatened with court action after putting rubbish bag in public litter bin - and he denies it was domestic waste

Andrew Anderson, 72, received a letter from Worthing Borough Council accusing him of fly-tipping after he placed a TK Maxx carrier bag containing his lunch packaging in a public litter bin in Heene Place.

The letter, accompanied by ‘photographic evidence’, threatened Mr Anderson with a fine, and possible court action if he failed to pay.

“The photo I have shows it is picnic food wrappings,” Mr Anderson said. “I just don't see why they're saying it's anything other than that. It was clearly not household rubbish.

“I immediately wrote to them, apologising and saying I wouldn’t do it again. It was a bit tongue-in-cheek, as the whole thing is unbelievable as far as I’m concerned. After thinking it over, I decided I would fight the thing and take it to court if necessary.

"The whole thing is completely ridiculous – to the extent they used the words ‘I put a bag with rubbish in it in the litter bin’. They will have seen it’s a supermarket bag. It’s completely beyond belief.”

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Three weeks after replying to the letter, Mr Anderson had not heard anything further from the council.

When approached for comment by SussexWorld, Worthing Borough Council reiterated dumping ‘domestic waste’ in a litter bin is fly-tipping, adding: “We take it extremely seriously.”

A spokesperson added: “When domestic waste is deposited in litter bins it fills them up very quickly which means the bins cannot be used for their intended purpose, to reduce litter on our streets and open spaces. As a result of this incident, we wrote to Mr Anderson asking him to provide an explanation or any mitigating circumstance that should be taken into account, giving him 14 days to reply.

“Mr Anderson has replied, apologised and assured us this will not happen again. The matter is now closed, but we would remind people that fly-tipping is a criminal offence that can result in a fixed penalty notice, or prosecution.”

But Mr Anderson said he had not been contacted by the council to tell him the case had been closed.

“I only got one letter saying they would consider prosecuting me in magistrates' court,” he said. “I am quite robust and would have been more than prepared to take them on but it could have given some people bad anxiety over Christmas.

“I want to stand up to it. I won’t let it get me down but this kind of thing could have a profound effect on people.”

What is fly-tipping?

According to keepbritaintidy.org, fly-tipping is defined as the ‘illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept it’.

Councils must follow UK Government guidelines, when investigating possible instances of fly-tipping.

On the Adur and Worthing Councils website, it states that fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste, items or materials. Examples of fly-tipping include; large household items, such as fridges, or furniture left in the street and dumping rubbish or building materials in the countryside or green spaces.

The councils said action will be taken against anyone found to be fly-tipping – ‘which could lead to a fine of up to £50,000 and imprisonment’.

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