An elderly Melbourne couple who have been fined $370 for dropping a lolly wrapper out of a car on February 28 say they have been falsely dobbed in by someone with a grudge.
A complete stranger has accused Kim Tran, 74, of littering and now, with very flimsy evidence, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is making the Tran’s life hell.
She and her husband Pham say the supposed evidence – a picture of a wrapper on the ground but no person visible – does not amount to anything and it is their accuser’s word against them.
Their daughter, also called Kim, is a full-time carer for her parents and said they can’t afford to pay the $370 fine for the alleged littering earlier this month.
In the 2021-2022 financial year, the EPA issued more than $3.7million in litter fines in Victoria alone.
Elderly Melbourne couple Pham and Kim Tran (pictured) who’ve been fined $370 for dropping a lolly wrapper out of a car say they’ve been falsely dobbed in by someone with a grudge
‘I just couldn’t imagine her doing it. At home it’s, like, spotless clean,’ Kim Tran told A Current Affair on Thursday.
Her parents are Vietnamese migrants who have lived in Melbourne’s west for 32 years.
Both have diabetes and high blood pressure made worse by the stress.
‘It’s hard to believe, it’s hard to accept,’ that someone dobbed them in,’ she said.
When war veteran Mr Tran, 82, got a letter in the post accusing his passenger – which was his wife Kim – of littering from a car window, he said he could not believe it.
The Trans believe they have been targeted by someone with a grudge, who submitted a false reports to the EPA.
They do not deny it is their car in the photo, but they do deny being litterbugs.
Their daughter Kim said her parents ‘love this country and this is home for us. They would never do that, they would not break a law or throw rubbish’.
She is helping them with the paperwork, but their only options are to pay the fine, ask for an internal EPA review, or take it to court.
Lawyer Justin Lawrence said the wrapper evidence would never hold up in court.
‘That could be a road anywhere, could be a footpath, could be the yard of my kids’ primary school.
‘There’s just no evidence that the person who is accused of throwing litter out of his car, has in fact done that,’ the Henderson and Ball solicitor said.
Mr Lawrence said people can submit reports, such as the one causing so much strife for the Trans, to the EPA anonymously.
People with a grudge could use the process to target another person, he said.
‘I can’t imagine any court in the country being satisfied on the back of two photographs, none of which even shows the accused person.’
The EPA said if a person submits a report of littering, they must then be willing to attend court as a witness to the incident.
But the consequences if the complainant does not attend court hardly amount to a sufficient deterrent against false reporting.
‘If you refuse to be a witness at court, we may not accept any future litter reports from you,’ the EPA website says.
The Trans have until March 28 to pay the $370 fine, or to challenge it. If they do neither by the due date, $26.60 will be added to their bill and a penalty reminder notice issued.
The only evidence against the Trans is a photo of a lolly wrapper (pictured) on the ground, with nobody seen beside it
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