You can guess what happened next. A Fixed Penalty Notice to a Mr Spring (not his real name).
Mr Spring hadn't dumped the boxes, he didn't know anything about them, other than the fact that his name and address was on them, as he hadn't purchased the mattresses, they were purchased by a family member and when they were delivered he was abroad. He contacted Brent Council and thought the matter would quickly be resolved (not when there is money involved!):
"The photographs show that the incident in question relates to a delivery that was made to my house in my absence. I was out of the country at the time and another family member was present to take delivery. We paid to have the packaging taken away (see attached email) so did all we could to discharge our Duty of Care. We could not have expected the waste to have been dumped illegally. I would therefore respectfully ask that the Fixed Penalty Notice is cancelled."
This wasn't quite accurate but understandably so. The buyer didn't pay to have waste removed as Eve, the mattress people, were actually paid to remove the old mattresses. If they were dumped they don't carry your name and address.
In fact, the boxes never entered the delivery property, as they were brought in like this, only in the plastic.
Did Brent listen to reason? No, of course not, this is all about the money.
Mr Spring is not the owner of the waste. It never entered his property.
Waste being connected to you doesn't mean that it breaches this law.
The response is a blind, it bends the facts and is only intended to bully a resident into paying £120 (or £200 later on) rather than risk going to the Magistrates' Court and getting a criminal record. The chances of that happening to Mr Spring are very low indeed (Mr Mustard is not a lawyer but just look at the facts for yourself) as he wasn't even in the country when the delivery was made and he didn't place or pay for the order, a fact that he hasn't yet told Brent Council but they can read it here as the blog will be tweeted to the council and the CEO.
Of course it doesn't help that Eve has since called in the Administrators as they had financial problems and Bensons for Beds are now selling Eve mattresses but won't be liable for their debts. If anyone dumped the boxes it was the delivery company, which is usually a contracted out service (The 2021 Annual Report says that Eve Sleep operated an 'outsourced manufacturing and fulfilment model'). What Mr Mustard surmises happened is that the delivery company got to the next delivery, put the boxes on the pavement whilst they got the next delivery out then simply forgot to pick them up. Whatever happened Mr Spring is innocent.
Before starting a Magistrates' Court case the legal department of the council will put Mr Spring on notice and at that point a proper lawyer, without an interest in the outcome, and with a duty to assist the Court, should look objectively at the facts, which can be backed up by paperwork, and sling this FPN into the rubbish (and then hope the council disposes of it properly otherwise the whole merry-go-round will start again).
Oh dear, Brent Council have form for their actions on dropping litter, see this article.
End.
Update: 9 November 2022
Before the pro bono lawyer (always very busy helping the public for free) had read all of the papers the council had decided yesterday to cancel the FPN. This was after they had been emailed proof that Mr Spring was out of the country and wasn't the buyer. Their cancellation was not gracious, the writer probably spent the afternoon crying over the loss of revenue, it included these words:
Thank you for
your email and the extra information that you have provided.
Mr Spring's version of events is the truth as demonstrated by independently produced documentation. 'On this occasion' as if he has ever littered before and it will be a decade before he needs a new mattress.
Councils could be more gracious when an innocent member of the public is being written to. The lack of good manners which is often evident in parking departments is equally apparent here.
Interesting post, I'm curious however that if the mattresses were purchased by a family member of Mr Spring, why were the orders purchased in his name, rather than the family member? That would strike me as being odd without a reasonable justification and suspect the evidential burden would shift to Mr Spring at that point - irrespective of being on holiday, his name is on the packaging and what's to stop the LA from suggesting he could have ordered it himself prior to going on holiday?
ReplyDeleteAnother point I noticed is that the officer seems to have been misguided when referring to the requirement of a waste transfer note (WTNs) otherwise Mr Spring would be in breach of the legislation. A WTN is required under 34(1)(c)(ii) but 34(2) explicitly states that the obligations in 34(1) do not apply to a domestic householder 'produced' on the property, which is what the officer seems to be alleging - no WTN is in fact needed.
I agree though, I can't see how the controlled waste has been produced on the property since the obvious fact here is that it has a delivery label and that is a prima facie assumption that the packaging was produced elsewhere. I would expect an example of something being produced on the property being garden waste e.g. landscaping or renovation works like plastering or wood offcuts.
Just a final point, the original letter is titled as breach of both s33 and 34 of the EPA 1990 so I suspect if it goes to a magistrates court, the LA will try their hand at both sections rather than just one as suggested by the officer.
The Waste Duty of Care Code of Practice on the .gov might assist Mr Spring on any prosecution.
Excellent and useful commentary Anonymous. I would point out that a delivery note is produced in business to provide information to the crew about where to deliver and the invoice will probably show the buyer's details as well as the delivery address. The delivery labels only need the delivery name and address, they don't need prices or buyer's details.
ReplyDeleteanother Anonymous here. just a thought about where the rubbish was produced. could it be argued that the packaging wasnt rubbish when it left the seller but became rubbish at mr springs address when the contents were removed and packaging discarded?
ReplyDelete