04/08/2026
Posted on behalf of a member
I received a Ā£500 fly-tipping fine after putting rubbish out for the council to collect ā and I'm looking for others who experienced the same thing
I'm trying to find anyone else who received a Ā£500 Fixed Penalty Notice for alleged fly-tipping on or around 22 July 2026, after simply putting household waste outside for the council's refuse collection.
The day before my collection, I put a metal garden trellis outside my property for the refuse crew to take away. Unfortunately, it wasn't collected. The following morning, an environmental enforcement officer came to my door and asked me about it. I answered every question honestly because I believed she was simply asking why the item was still outside. At no point was I told that I was being interviewed under caution, that I was suspected of committing an offence, or that I could receive a Ā£500 fine.
A few days later, I received a Fixed Penalty Notice through the post completely out of the blue.
The notice gave me 14 days from the date on the letter to either pay the Ā£500 or challenge it. However, the letter took five days to arrive, meaning I had already lost more than a third of the time allowed before I even knew the notice had been issued.
Since receiving the notice, I have spent many hours reading Dartford Borough Council's Environmental Enforcement Policy alongside Government guidance. From everything I have read, I genuinely do not believe what happened amounts to fly-tipping. My trellis was placed outside solely to be collected by the council's refuse service. It was positioned neatly against my wall, did not block the pavement, did not obstruct wheelchairs or pushchairs, and was causing no danger or nuisance. Government guidance specifically states that a household waste duty of care fixed penalty is not applicable where someone intends for their waste to be collected by the local authority's own collection service, and that enforcement should be proportionate.
I also discovered that Dartford Borough Council's own Environmental Enforcement Policy says the Council aims to act fairly, transparently and proportionately, and that where appropriate, household waste presentation issues should normally begin with warnings before formal enforcement action is taken.
I fully support action against genuine fly-tippers. People who deliberately dump rubbish in the countryside, on streets or on other people's land should absolutely be prosecuted. However, I don't believe homeowners who simply put an item out for the council to collect, only for it to be missed, should be treated in the same way.
What concerns me most is the process. Although you can make written representations asking for the notice to be withdrawn, there is no formal right of appeal to the Council. If they reject your explanation, your choices are effectively to pay the Ā£500 or defend yourself in the Magistrates' Court. For many people, going to court is intimidating, and I worry that some will simply pay because they feel they have no realistic alternative.
I'm now trying to find out whether this happened to anyone else on the same day or around the same time. If you received a similar Ā£500 notice after putting household waste out for collection, I'd really like to hear from you. In particular, I'd like to know whether you were warned first, whether you were told you were being interviewed under caution, and whether you have challenged the notice.
If several residents have had similar experiences, it may help establish whether this was an isolated incident or part of a wider enforcement exercise. My hope is that by sharing our experiences, we can better understand whether the Council's own policies and Government guidance have been applied consistently and fairly.
