Nelson woman fined for leaving her bins out

Shazia Akhtar of Crawford Street in Nelson did not attend Reedley Magistrates' Court on Thursday 6th January but the case proceeded in her absence.

The Magistrates found the case proved and fined her £175.

They also imposed a £15 victim surcharge and ordered her to pay legal costs of £120.

Councillor James Starkie, who represents Operational Services in Pendle, said:

"This woman must now pay out over £300, which is a substantial amount of money.

"Yet this could easily have been avoided if she'd taken in her bins after they'd been emptied, instead of just leaving them on her back street.

"Hopefully she won't do it again and it will also make other people think twice about leaving their bins out in the future."

It is actually an offence, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to leave out bins and boxes after they have been emptied.

Not only that, leaving them out makes our areas look a mess and they could become obstructions that cause accidents.

Staff from Pendle Council's Operational Services department first witnessed Ms Akhtar's bins left out on the back street at the end of May 2010.

We sent her a letter asking her to take them in after being emptied, but when we reinspected two weeks later the bins were still on the backstreet.

In June we issued Ms Akhtar with a Section 46 notice. This explained that she must only put out her bin on the day of collection, and take it in again as soon as possible.

But she continued to leave her bins out on the backstreet and in August we issued her with a fixed penalty notice.

Despite us sending her a reminder in September, she did not pay the £100 fine.

This resulted in court proceedings beginning in late September 2010.

Councillor Starkie added:

"You can put out your bins and recycling boxes before 7.30am on your collection day, but certainly no earlier than 6pm the day before.

"Then please take in your bins as soon as you can after they have been emptied to remove obstructions and keep your neighbourhood looking tidy."

To report an area where bins are persistently left out after collection day, call the Council contact centre on (01282) 661743 or email operational.services@pendle.gov.uk.