A five-year-old girl was sent a £1,000 fine after a council in London claimed she had been caught fly-tipping.
Harrow Council’s enforcement unit, APCOA, issed the child with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) at her home on November 20.
It claimed the youngster had been seen by a uniformed officer « committing the offence of fly-tipping« .
The local authority even warned the girl that Harrow’s environmental enforcement team was about to tell the council’s legal team to start court proceedings against her.
Her dad, who wishes to remain anonymous, strongly denied his child had committed a grime crime and dismissed the fine as « absurd ».
He blamed overflowing communal bins at his block of flats for the packaging ending up on the street.
The disgruntled dad said: « I am seriously concerned about the financial impact of this fine and it’s causing my daughter undue stress for her age.
« All I want is for this fine to be rescinded, or for there to at least be a clear process for appeals against fines such as this, as there seems to be no due process currently. I hope this injustice can be rectified. »
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the girl’s father tried appealing via Harrow’s website, but struggled to resolve the issue.
He went to an advice session at Harrow Library in a bid to lodge an appeal after 10 failed attempts to submit his details online. But he said that he was told to report it online or call the local authority direct.
The dad explained how he sent an email to a specified address but it bounced back so called the council.
After a 40-minute wait, he was put through to someone who told him they couldn’t do anything about it and hung up.
His daughter then received a final reminder letter dated December 5, warning of court proceedings and that not paying the penalty could lead to a conviction and maximum fine of £2,500.
Harrow Council Leader, Paul Osborn, told a meeting: « I’d like to find a child who could afford to pay a £1,000 fine at five years old. Obviously, that is totally unacceptable and we will look into any of those accusations. »
A council spokesperson said it is not council policy to fine children, the case has now been investigated and the fine cancelled by the town hall’s enforcement agent.
An APCOA spokesperson said: « The Fixed Penalty Notice resulted from investigation of waste that had been fly tipped; the age of the individual was not known. However, the FPN should have been cancelled on appeal.
« APCOA has already contacted the family concerned to apologise and confirm that the FPN has been cancelled. We have also taken steps to avoid a similar situation recurring as this case has not met our usual high standards of service. »
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