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Wellington Street prosecution

Released on 11 Aug 2008

A Jericho resident has been fined £200 and ordered to pay costs of £150 after they were prosecuted by Oxford City Council's Environmental Enforcement Officers for failing to comply with a legal notice for causing a nuisance on the pavement outside her house by leaving their wheelie bin out on the street.

Charlotte Aspel of Wellington Street was issued with a legal notice under the Environmental Protection Act in May 2007 requiring her to take her wheelie bin off the street after she ignored two warning letters from Environmental Enforcement Officers. Her bin was then left on the street on two further occasions in June and August 2007, but she was given the benefit of the doubt after she claimed that her garden was being renovated and that she had nowhere else to store the bin.

Charlotte Aspel's wheelie bin was again spotted on the street by Environmental Enforcement Officers out on patrol on the 8th and 11th of February 2008 and on the 12th February 2008 she was issued with a Fixed Penalty Fine for £100.

She failed to pay the fine within the 14 days allowed and after ignoring another warning letter and failing to attend a formal interview she was summonsed to appear before the Magistrates Court on 28th July 2008. She failed to attend the court hearing on the day and so the case was proved in her absence.

Ian Wright, Team Manager of the Public Health Team says, " When our reasonable requests for co-operation with the recycling scheme are blatantly ignored we will take tough action against the individuals concerned.

John Tanner, Board Member for the Environment says, "Cluttering up pavements gives Oxford and recycling a bad name. If residents don't play the game you can be sure we will prosecute.

"It's not fair on the majority of people who do play by the rules with their rubbish."

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