A YOUNG dad has been fined £550 – for leaving his wheelie bins outside his home.
Gareth Robinson, 24, was prosecuted by Salford council after the authority said he repeatedly failed to take his bins in.
Council rules state that the bins must be taken in by 11pm on the day of collection.
Mr Robinson was caught breaching the rules on eight occasions by officials who visited his home in Morillon Road, Irlam.
But Mr Robinson said he would not be paying the fine and branded the council action 'pathetic'.
Joke
He said: “I think that it is pathetic and a joke. I have only just got back into work. I cannot afford to pay £600 for a bin. I pay my council tax.”
He claimed the bins were left outside his house for two days at the most as he dug up turf in his back garden.
He was taken to court after ignoring repeated warnings and found guilty in his absence of failing to comply with an enforcement notice under the Environment Protection Act.
The authority said it had taken action after complaints from Mr Robinson's neighbours and to help curb theft and arson involving wheelie bins.
The authority said about 3,500 wheelie bins are stolen, vandalised or reported missing each year – costing the taxpayer £2m.
And in 2008, the fire service were called out to 1,000 deliberately-started rubbish fires - a significant number of which were wheelie bins.
The average cost to the taxpayer for each call out is £2,000.
Mr Robinson, who has a four-year-old son, has been sent a notice warning him that unless he pays the fine by December 22, it could be increased by 50 per cent, his vehicle could be clamped and seized and bailiffs could be employed.
The letter also warns that he could face jail for non-payment.
He said:"I have been trying to do my garden up. I took my bins outside the garden so I could get my turf up then forgot to bring them back in. A week later I got a knock on the door.
Pathetic
"It was somebody from the council who gave me a fine sheet. I told him that I was not paying that just for a bin. Lots of people around here leave their bins outside for longer than they should. It is pathetic.
"Then they said that I would have to go to court. I got a letter for court but couldn't go because I didn't want to take time off.
"There are real criminals out there and I have been fined nearly £600. I am going to write to them because I cannot afford to pay it.
"I think it is pathetic and I'm not going to pay it. It was only out there for two days at the most and now I have to pay all this money."
Council officers went to Mr Robinson's home eight times between February and June this year and saw his bins had not been taken in on each occasion.
Mr Robinson was warned about his behaviour and served with a notice not to put the bin out before 7pm the night before collection and to bring it back in by 11pm on the day it was emptied.
Ignored
He ignored this and was issued with a £60 fixed penalty notice. Robinson failed to pay the fine and the council started court proceedings.
He was fined £350, and ordered to pay £200 costs and a £15 victim surcharge when his case came before Salford magistrates' court.
Coun Joe Murphy, the council's environment spokesman, said: "Every month we get about 50 complaints from residents about bins being left out on their streets. It is something people want us to do something about.
"It's a two-second job to bring your bin in from the street once it's been emptied and one that could save lives and thousands of pounds that can be put back into public services.”
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Proper Sentences (01/12/2009 at 07:40)
Richard Leslie (01/12/2009 at 07:48)
Jiggerz, Mancunia (01/12/2009 at 08:10)
the monkey, bolton (01/12/2009 at 08:13)
joanne card, manchester (01/12/2009 at 08:15)
get rid of your bin to stop the argument then simply dump your waste on that layby near your house like everyone else does
jgp (01/12/2009 at 08:19)
We have the opposite problem in stockport, i leave my bins on the end of my drive, on my property, however when i get home the bins have been emptied and left on the pavement by the refuse collectors. the bins will either be next to the walls blocking the pavement or left in front of the drive blocking both the pavement and the drive way, obviousley this means i have to stop my car in the road blocking all other traffic to move the bins myself.
don't get me wrong i have no objection to taking my own bins in and out but if its illegal to leave them on the front then why do the councills very own employees do it themselves ?. maybee we should start taking the council to court for not replacing the bins in the location they found them and illegally leaving them to obstuct a public right of way !.
FrostySnowman (01/12/2009 at 08:19)
Tramtraveller, Bury (01/12/2009 at 08:24)
tiggerluc, somewhere in shaw (01/12/2009 at 08:29)
Army Surplus Special, bringing up the rear. (01/12/2009 at 08:36)
all authorites go after the 'easy-targets' first. These pen-pushers haven't got the courage to go after the real crooks.
Why spend thousands of pounds and hundreds a man hours to collar a thief (will get a tiny fine) when you can easily fine someone £60 on the spot for accidentally dropping a crisp out of their crisp packet.
This country has wheelie gone down the bin.. (groan)
Brook Lands (01/12/2009 at 08:39)
I have a 5 month old baby and it drives me up the wall when I have to push him in the road because people have either left their bins in the pavement blocking it or even worse parked their cars there because they can't be bothered to walk for 1 minute. Imagine you're a wheelchair user and have to get yourself up and down kerbs and along a road.
You've been very selfish Mr Robinson, now just be a man about it, pay the fine and learn your lesson.
salfordrat (01/12/2009 at 08:41)
FrostySnowman
If your bin is stolen or rendered unusable, the cost of a new bin falls squarely to the owner - not to the tax payer. This is just SCC virutally stealing from people. They allow the likes of Blears to rob the tax payer blind and then levy pathetic taxes on the likes of this man. He left his wheelie bin out? Big whoop. Do the bin men get fined when they leave the bins in the middle of the road or four doors down from your house after emptying them? Of course not.
And:
Fair play to the Council on this one. He wasn't fined £550 by them, he was fined £60. The rest is court fees imposed because he didn't pay the original fine. Don't leave your bin out - it's annoying, lazy and can be dangerous to pedestrians. And if you get warned repeatedly, don't ignore the warnings. It's not hard.
Richard Leslie
I live in a back to back house in lancashire, hence the bins have to be left outside your front door. If this was dangerous to pedestrians the council would create a small area at the end of the row. They dont because it isn't. Wheelie bins do not jump out in front of you as you are walking past, nor do they take up a large amount of room on the pavement. You have legs, walk around them if they are in the way. What kind of idiot feels a wheelie bin poses them a threat?
This fellow should be as petty and pathetic as the council are being on this issue. He should request an income and expenditure form, fill it out and then pay them one pound per week in pennies. Salford council is a joke.
charliepapalima, Flixton (01/12/2009 at 08:45)
Andanotherthing, Mcr (01/12/2009 at 08:53)
1/12/2009 at 08:19, The bin is to be put out after 7pm and taken back in by 11pm. More than an adequate amount of time.
Mr Robinson comes across as a "you don't tell me what to do" type. He was warned , ignored it. He got a summons, ignored it. He has to pay the court costs, says that he will not.
Not a very reasonable attitude.
jepetto, Ashton under Lyne (01/12/2009 at 08:54)
Swamp Donkey, Shadybridge (01/12/2009 at 08:57)
jepetto, Ashton under Lyne (01/12/2009 at 08:57)
It may be 33 yrs but it will never be 37yrs. (01/12/2009 at 08:59)
This is exactly what Labour wants someone who won't pay their fine if he refuses to pay up he could be dragged through the courts as a non-payment of fine and if convicted he could go to prison. Why do you think the government has introduced these laws? This is where Labours master plan comes in with a prison sentence he will have to give a DNA swab and that will go on the national data base slowly the country will become criminals in this way and the government will have our DNA profile.
Swamp Donkey, Shadybridge (01/12/2009 at 09:04)
Hindsight (01/12/2009 at 09:16)
smittyh, Blackley, Manchester (01/12/2009 at 09:19)
Also, what is the fact that he is a "young dad" got to do with anything? Parents should act responsibly, and one of the things they should teach kids is to abide by rules.
thoughtful, East of Manchester (01/12/2009 at 09:21)
I'm not quite sure where people think the council have done something wrong on this? So far as I see the homeowner has ignored every attempt and approach the council has made to change his behaviour, he was taken to court because he ignored the ticket, and he is still saying he's going to ignore his fines, despite the fact it will be increased to £825 and no doubt he'll be back here bleating that he's been fined that for leaving his bin out!
Paul Peters (01/12/2009 at 09:25)
Abra Cadaver (01/12/2009 at 09:28)
Higgs Boson, Greater Manchester (01/12/2009 at 09:29)
Tramtraveller, Bury"
No....Another Council trying to cover the costs incurred by the lazy and to act on complaints from its taxpayers.