Elise Briggs, from Wood Green, north London, was fined £80 for ‘purposefully’ leaving rubbish near her home
Bonus-chasing officials are punishing homeowners for littering unless they can ‘prove’ they are innocent.
Over-zealous wardens can make as much as £1,000 a month in extras by handing out fines of up to £80.
They are even rifling through rubbish to find the addresses of householders they say have flouted litter rules.
The tactics emerged in the case of a woman who was fined after a bag she left correctly in a wheelie bin had either been blown into the street or deliberately moved.
TV runner Elise Briggs, 23, was stunned to receive an £80 penalty in the post for ‘purposefully’ leaving a bag of rubbish near her North London home. The notice included photos of a Tesco bag containing a letter from her bank including her name and address.
But Miss Briggs said she would have had to walk past her own bin and those of eight other neighbours in Wood Green to deposit the rubbish containing confidential information.
She suggested the bag had simply blown out of the bin in the wind or was moved by somebody else.
Government guidelines say penalty notices should not be issued for ‘accidental littering’. There should be an ‘intent’ and offenders should be given the chance to pick up any rubbish before a fine is issued.
Miss Briggs was later told by her local authority, Haringey Council, that officials had no proof she had left rubbish in the street. A spokesman insisted that to cancel the fine she would have to provide evidence of her own or attend court.
The notice issued by Haringey Council included photos of a Tesco bag containing a letter from her bank including her name and address. Pictured, Miss Briggs holds up her council letter
The council only reviewed the case when contacted by the Daily Mail and decided to withdraw the penalty. Bosses admitted the litter officer, an employee of outsourcing firm Kingdom Services, received a financial bonus for issuing fines.
The company is understood to have 28 contracts with local authorities where they enforce the Environmental Protection Act. Suspects must provide ‘evidence’, such as CCTV, to prove they didn’t litter. Or they can take up the matter in court where residents can be given criminal records and fined up to £2,500.
In May, a BBC Panorama investigation found one Kingdom employee claimed his bonus for issuing fines in a month was £987. Miss Briggs said: ‘The council are 100 per cent using these fines as a way to make more money.
‘I totally agree that the streets need cleaning up but there should be evidence that that person has purposefully dropped litter. What if the officer moved my bag on purpose to get a bonus?’
Miss Briggs was later told by her local authority, Haringey Council, that officials had no proof she had left rubbish in the street (pictured)
John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘It beggars belief that councils are using taxpayers’ own money against them by hiring people whose sole aim is to fine them on the most tenuous amounts of “evidence”, while putting the burden of proof on residents.’
In August, it emerged that had Kingdom made £600,000 in only five months in Liverpool.
Maidstone Borough Council suspended its contract after a woman was fined last year for feeding ducks. Officers have also issued fines for accidentally dropping pieces of orange peel. The Mail has reported how binmen are filing reports on millions of families for rubbish and recycling ‘offences’.
A spokesman for Haringey Council said checking the contents of litter ‘is standard procedure’. Kingdom was awarded a £120,000 nine-month trial with the council in December.
Kingdom Services said every fine is issued ‘in accordance with strict operating procedures’. A spokesman said there were various ways to appeal.