Town halls were last night ordered to stop threatening families with £2,500 fines and criminal convictions for overloading their bins.
Ministers accused them of misusing the law after the draconian crackdown on waste ‘offences’ was revealed by a Daily Mail investigation.
Homeowners who put out bins too early or too late were also facing sanctions under anti-social behaviour laws. Small businesses, including those as small as corner shops, were threatened with penalties of up to £20,000.
Just days after the Mail first revealed the practices, the Government acted to protect homeowners.
Ministers have vowed to stop draconian fines for overloading bins up and down the country
Families were being threatened with criminal convictions and £2,500 fines for overloading bins as council workers were also told to inspect and file reports on ‘offences’
Marcus Jones, minister for local government, said: ‘The rules allow for councils to take action against those who litter the streets and cause harm to their local communities. This must be fair and proportionate.
‘We do not expect legislation to be used to penalise a householder for not closing a bin lid or for putting a bin out for collection a few hours too early.’
Local officials will now be sent updated guidance on the law – and they have been told to listen to residents’ concerns and collect bins as often as possible.
The intervention comes after the Mail Investigations Unit revealed how families risked huge fines and criminal records for minor issues with their bins.
Aggressive letters were sent to families in Stoke-on-Trent saying: ‘With immediate effect your wheelie bin must be kept within your property boundary outside of 7pm the night before collection and 7pm the night of collection. You must ensure the lid is closed.’
The letters warned residents that unless they changed their ‘unreasonable conduct’ they could be issued with a community- protection notice (CPN).
These are used to prevent unreasonable behaviour having a negative impact on a community and are usually served on those who make excessive noise in public, fly-tippers and graffiti vandals. Anyone who receives a notice has to comply or they can be given a fixed- penalty notice, or taken to court, fined and given a criminal record.
Binmen are being asked to snoop on families and catch people breaking rules in Heanor, with Newham council in east London handing 8,795 warnings in just one year
But councils – which are trying to boost recycling and cut general waste collections – have increasingly been using the notices.
In Greater Manchester, Tameside council has a ‘waste policy and enforcement strategy’ allowing CPNs to be issued to locals who do not abide by their rules.
These include leaving wheelie bins out before 5pm the day before collection and having a bin which is too full. Meanwhile Newham council in east London issued 8,795 warnings, 1,378 CPN notices and 30 fixed-penalty notices about waste in front gardens in one year.
Boston council in Lincolnshire uses the notices to threaten drivers who block bin lorries and Croydon council said CPNs could be issued because of ‘eyesore rubbish on private land’.
Freedom of Information requests revealed bin lorries are using up to seven CCTV cameras to catch people in the act of rubbish ‘offences’
Oxford city council threatens to issue the notices to those running blocks of flats or shared houses if they produce more general waste than recycling.
The revelations in yesterday’s Mail caused fury among residents and campaigners, who said the threats ‘beggar belief’ and called on the Government to intervene.
On Saturday, the Mail also told how binmen were filing reports on millions of families for rubbish and recycling ‘offences’.
Hundreds of Freedom of Information requests also revealed that some were snooping on families using bin lorries fitted with up to seven CCTV cameras.
Across three quarters of the country, families now wait at least two weeks for their rubbish to be collected.
Stoke-on-Trent city council said the warning letters were only sent to those creating persistent problems. It said the fines were legal and imposed by courts.
A spokesman added: ‘Residents have told us that this issue is a major priority. Our response is proportionate and only escalates if there are continuous problems.’