Man punishes £ 500 for fly tips after the envelope in Hertfordshire blows | Hertfordshire

A man who gave up his job to take care of his little children when his wife died was punished with a fine of 500 pounds and threatened a criminal register after an envelope was blown out of his trash can.

Martin Fielder received a letter from District Enforcement six weeks ago, a private enforcement authority, which was employed by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Borough Council, to issue announcements with fixed penalty in the Commission. The company receives part of the fines that it publishes.

Fielder said: “The FPN stated that I had a box with my address for 80 meters from my house against Section 33 of the 1990 or 1990-or against the criminal offense of the fly rib.

“In the letter it was found that the matter if the fine was not paid within 28 days, the Magistrate Court will be transferred, where I could go to prison for up to 12 months or receive a bigger fine or both.”

Six years ago, Fielder agreed with his terminal wife, a teacher, that he would give up his job to take care of her two children after her death. The family now survives its savings and his wife’s life insurance.

“I’ve never had a brush with the law before,” said Field, a former IT specialist for the David Lloyd leisure society. “Since then I have been in a state of constant fear. It’s exhausting. “

Field’s is the latest in a number of fines “Fly tips”. A pensioner from Nord -London was punished after sweging part of her street and put the garbage into a container across the street. In another case, Isabelle Pepin received an FPN after leaving one IKEA cabinet outside of your house to take for people.

There are no formal reasons for the appeal against an FPN and if you do not pay within 28 days, the case will go to court if fines of up to 2,500 GBP plus can be collected. If the fine is not paid, the court can increase it by 50% and issue an arrest warrant.

Fielder said District Enforcement that he did not know how the envelope ended up in the grass, but that strong winds could have blown him out of his recycling container last night. He recently sent them a picture of a fox through his trash can and evidence of packages that had disappeared during this period.

“I gave them three strong reasons why they couldn’t assume that I had done something wrong,” he said. “You ignored me.”

Field complained to his advice and announced District Enforcement, he intended to argue his case in court. On Tuesday, the company changed the fine to a criminal offense of £ 100.

He said: “It feels very much as if you had a standard process to spend a big fine, and if you push back, give out a smaller one instead.”

Fielder now decides whether he should contest the fine in court. “It is tempting to pay because the court headed for increased fine and criminal records in court,” he said. “But I don’t want to surrender. I didn’t do anything wrong. “

Josie Appleton, the convener of the Manifesto Club, a bourgeois freedom group, said. “These companies stretch the law beyond an appropriate interpretation to enable the issue of punishments.”

A spokesman for the district council of Welwyn and Hatfield Borough said: “The district officials are trained to carry out the enforcement according to the legal standards and the enforcement directive of the council. There are measures to ensure a thorough review of the controversial punishments. If a dispute remains unsolved, we will carefully evaluate the evidence before we determine further enforcement measures. “

The enforcement of the districts was addressed for a comment.