Dad charged £1,000 after leaving envelope on top of overflowing bin

A dad-of-one is facing huge financial strain after a London council fined him £1,000 for an envelope he left on top of a bin bag.

Nidas Ratkevicius said he hardly remembers leaving the paper slip on top of the bin in Hounslow, which is a frequent site of littering and fly tipping.

The 46-year-old said as the bins were so full, he had no choice but to leave the envelope, which had his full name and address written on it, on top of the large pile.

But a few weeks later he received the £1,000 fine, which the council chose to set at the maximum penalty.

Nidas told Metro: ‘It would have just been cheaper for me to drop it on the ground. When I first got the fine I genuinely thought one of my friends was having a laugh.’

The estate manager is now fighting to get a refund, with his case recently being accepted by the Ombudsman.

But they still said this could take up to 22 weeks.

‘I am out of pocket massively,’ he said. ‘A grand gone in thin air. If it was just £100 I would not have spoken out about it.’

He continued: ‘Why can’t they focus on the people who are fly-tipping rather than coming after me?’

Councillor Pritam Grewal previously told LBC: ‘We are committed to protecting the local environment and taking a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping. Keeping our streets and public spaces clean is a top priority for residents, many of whom are frustrated by others in the community who ignore the rules and dump rubbish.

‘While no one likes receiving a fine, residents expect us to tackle offences and hold offenders accountable consistently.

‘Fly-tipping not only makes our streets messy and unpleasant, but it also costs the council £4 million a year – taxpayers’ money that should be spent on services and projects that benefit our communities.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Memorial wall for Iranian protest victims targeted in ‘arson attack’

MORE: Gang turned six sites across London into mountains of dumped waste

MORE: Mother of influencer ‘mown down by X Factor star’ says she is at peace with angels