The keen gardener brought the plants into work at Robert Milne Financial Advisers in Tadworth Parade, Elm Park, near Romford in Essex. He arrived early in the morning and placed them on the edge of a colleague's parking space so she could pop them into the boot of her car when she arrived.
My Mayes opened up the office and within minutes a council officer was writing him a fly-tipping fine. He said: "I told him they were for a colleague who would be in any time soon. He then fined me £50 for fly-tipping. While I explained about the plants my colleague pulled up in her car and put the plants into her boot. He ignored us and wrote out the fine."
The father-of-two, of Netherpark Drive, Gidea Park, added: "To say I was fuming is an understatement. I wrote a letter to the council straight away saying: 'I'm not paying this and I'm willing to take it to court'.
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"Within two days I had a hand-delivered letter saying: 'Thank you very much, but we're going ahead with this and beware if you take it to court, it could cost you up to £2,000'." He paid up, but wants a refund from the council and an apology from the officer.
Cllr Barry Tebbutt, cabinet member for the environment, said: "Mr Mayes admitted to littering when he paid the fine. If he did not think he committed an offence, then he could have appealed to magistrates. This was explained when the notice was issued and in later correspondence."
4 comments:
What is fly-tipping?
Illegal dumping of rubbish.
He was threatened with huge court costs so he paid the bill... and that's considered an admission of guilt?
How convenient for the council.
shouldn't have paid it. although paying is not by any means an admission of guilt. people really need to start standing up for there rights and start saying "NO"
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