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Father of four taken to court and fined ... because he overfilled his wheelie-bin by just four inches
Last updated at 17:22pm on 22.04.08With his rubbish collected only once a fortnight, Gareth Corkhill's wheelie bin was so full the lid wouldn't shut.
And for that, the father of four finds himself with a criminal record.
Magistrates convicted the 26-year-old bus driver after hearing evidence that the lid was four inches ajar, which is against rules to stop bins overflowing.
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Four inches too far: Gareth Corkhill with wife Claire and son Josh
He was ordered to pay £210 - a week's wages - after he declined to pay an on-the-spot fine imposed by the local council's bin police, who visited him wearing stab-proof vests and carrying photographic evidence of his crime.
To add insult to injury he was told to pay a £15 victim surcharge to help victims of violence - despite there being no victim - and threatened with prison if he failed to pay.
Rapists, murderers and other violent criminals who have earned a jail sentence rather than a fine are immune from the penalty.
Yesterday the council, Copeland in Cumbria, said that Mr Corkhill's family had caused problems for "the battle to reduce waste".
His penalty compares with the typical on-the-spot fine of £80 given to shoplifters - even repeat offenders.
For failing to pay his fine Mr Corkhill, from Whitehaven, will now have a criminal record which he will have to disclose if he applies for a job, credit or a mortgage over the next five years.
Even after that he will have to reveal his crime if he applies for a job in the NHS, working with children, in a bank, or as a security guard.
"I can't believe I now have a criminal record for simply putting rubbish in my bin," he said. "My only crime was to leave the lid slightly open. Now I might go for a job interview and be better than someone else but the employer will see that officially, I am a criminal.
"They won't know the details of what I did. They won't know that I only put a little too much rubbish in the bin."
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Mr Corkhill's troubles began last summer when the two enforcement officers arrived at his home. They cautioned him before issuing a £110 on-the-spot fine for failure to close the lid of his wheelie bin.
He was told he had six months to pay or he would be taken to court. By January he had still not paid and was sent a summons under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, which gave powers to town hall officials to hand out fines to rubbish rulebreakers.
Last week Whitehaven magistrates convicted him in his absence of "over-filling the receptacle used to dispose of waste" - a criminal offence.
They added £100 towards prosecution costs on top of the original fine, together with the £15 surcharge designed to help victims of violence.
Mr Corkhill, who takes home £900 a month, added: "I would have been better off throwing my rubbish across the front garden - at least then I would only have received an £80 fine for fly-tipping.
"It's outrageous what they've done to me. We got a leaflet, like everyone else, nine months previously, explaining the new council policy which also made it a fineable offence for putting your bin out any earlier than 7am - a curfew for a bin.
"My wife and I put it in the recycling box and continued as normal. Then this happens. What can I do? If I didn't pay they said that I could go to prison. They also threatened to clamp my car and send the bailiffs round.
"We recycle everything we can, including plastics, cardboard, tins, glass and paper. We have got a black box that is always full."
A spokesman for Copeland Council said Mr Corkhill's recollection of the distance his bin lid was open was wrong and it was "more like seven inches". He added: "We will continue to crack down on the problem of overflowing bins."
The case comes against a background of growing numbers of on-the-spot fines handed out by bin police to those who break rubbish rules.
In the 12 months up to April last year, nearly 44,000 were fined because they failed to close bin lids, put their rubbish out on the wrong day, or left extra black bags alongside their bins.
Reader views (48)
I can see no justification for fining him.
Surely a fitting penalty for any such "offence" would simply be not to collect his rubbish. If they don't like his bin, then they don't empty it.
- David Le Fevre, Enfield, UK
This is disgraceful! What a disproportionate response to a bin lid being a few inches from closing: so what, what's the big deal? Perhaps the council should get off its collective backside and empty people's rubbish every week. With 3 kids, it's not surprising this family struggles to fit its rubbish in one wheelie bin emptied fortnightly. The only ways to reduce waste are (i) to reduce what you purchase, (2) leave packaging at the retail outlet, or (iii) force manufacturers to use less packaging in the first place.
- Adam, London, UK
When I saw the headline and the photo, I thought this unlucky chap had been taken to court in my home town. I was really cheesed off that my local council had acted in such a petty way.
But it actually happened hundreds of miles away!
So has someone taken a Cardiff wheelie-bin to Cumbria for a photo -shoot and - terror upon terror - what's the penalty for doing that?
- Mike, Cardiff, Wales
A friends of ours was fined £70 for "fly tipping" for leaving a box at a very well known supermarket recycling bins, it was just after Christmas and the bins were over flowing so he just left it next to the bins, presuming it would be picked up (which I pointed out to him probably was in any event). They got his name and address of the box label as he'd left it on there! I told him to counter sue as the council obviously weren't doing their job by collecting the rubbish!
- Julie, Essex
Just dump it in the street in carrier bags, work for my neighbours, not me of course.
- P I Staker, London
This is just crazy. I hope the bin men who empty his bin and leave rubbish out on the street - which they invariably do in our area - are also fined under the same rules. Big brother will want us to take our rubbish to them and dispose of it next - on second thoughts not a bad idea and then we can get rid of these stupid people that make such stupid rules.
- Alan, London
The offence was, according to the slip, against s.46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. So not a piece of NuLab legislation.
- Tonyb, Twickenham
Disgusting, BUT he really should have turned up in Court, not least because there would seem to have been a defence. E.G. Could the Council provide concrete evidence that it was him who put the rubbish in the bin that caused the lid to be open? I suspect not - case dismissed.
- Mark, Bournemouth England
The reason for this mess on rubbish is indeed at heart an EU Directive. Councils face EU fines if they do not reduce the amount of landfill...so they are using these laws as an excuse not to clear the rubbish, but to fine you - so when the EU comes along and fines them, they have a ready source of income. The moralistic criminalising has been brought in to make people feel guilty and to deflect attention from the councils' own appalling behaviour and failures. And to hide from you the fact that Government does not even control its own waste policy now. It is decided by Brussels. Remember one thing on May 1st. All the big tired old political parties (the LibLabCon parties) are at it. All using these type of excuses to tax you, fine you, criminalise you. Don't be fooled into voting for any of them. Vote for someone else to send them a message.
- Damian Hockney A.M., London
This is jobsworths at its best.
I leave for work everyday at 06.10 so presumably in this particular area my bin would never qualify to be emptied!
I suggest to the man in the article that he adopts the same sort of exactly to rules procedure in future.
If after the bin is 'emptied' and there is even just one small piece of paper left in the bin, then it has not been emptied.
He should call and forcibly request they return and do the job properly...the job for which he pays the council.
- Simon Carter, Maidstone Kent
That nu-labour Britain for you: a decent hard-working father turned into a criminal over an open bin lid.
We're living in a police state while the real criminals act with utter impunity, because the courts and police and too busy arresting people with learning disabilities for being racist, persecuting Christians for not supporting homosexuality, and bringing a man to court over a minor mistake with a bin.
Our rulers despise us while robbing us, not only of money, but of respect. What are we going to do about it?
- Sally R., London, UK
Yes lets hound the real criminals, four inches open, he should be inside for ten years, its important we stop this kind of outrage.
Its not like he stabbed or mugged someone that's just a minor crime, but to leave your bin open, my god! He needs to be jailed, well done Copeland council, well done!
- Brian Doust, Swindon Wiltshire
I don't see what its got to do with the EU, I've got an idea that the labour party blame all the unpleasant things they do on the EU our rubbish is collected regularly every morning
- Linda Tricker, Rimini, Italy
It makes one despair that the nation has allowed the luny left to come to the fore in a different disguise and matters are only made worse that their stupid laws are upheld by the brainless subspecies who describe themselves as magistrates. In this case the blame lies entirely with the council that has been unable to carry out its duty of a weekly refuse clearance. To support its inadequacies it has heavy handily tried to fine some poor soul who has done nothing wrong except put too much litter in his bin. The council should apologise to him and compensate him for unnecessary stress along with the chairman of council resigning and the magistrate being struck off for wasting public time. For the love of God lets get back to being sane and sensible.
- Alexis Dogilewski, London, England
This is one more depressing and deeply worrying indication of just how far out of whack this country's priorities are.
Idiots are now being paid to police and issue penalties for the mis-management of domestic dustbins while violent and sexual crimes appear to be rife.
Perhaps this guy should have thought twice before honouring his responsibilities to waste disposal. It would be interesting to see how the penalties for littering and fly-tipping compare.
I agree with gazza's comment - who votes for these muppets?
- Dan, Bournemouth
Has anyone ever spoken to someone with any degree of professional pride at their local council?
No? thought not.
These people have to be employed by the council because they wouldn't last 5 minutes in the private sector where results are king and (un) common sense not political correctness rules.
- Jimbob, Kensington
If you elect these lunatics and let them loose in the asylums what do you expect. This country is screwed.
- Ian Makin, Twickenham
The fact that bins are only taken out fortnightly in this country is disgusting in itself...how unhygienic to leave rubbish to fester for 2 weeks! I used to live in Spain - you would put your rubbish out in the evening (after 9pm) and it would be collected overnight, every night... I cannot believe that all the money that goes into council tax in this country is not enough to provide a better and more effective refuse collection service!
- Mt, London
This government has declared war on its people. It makes evidence free policy decisions and laws that cannot be complied with by everyone. It declares that it is happy that there are 'winners and losers' and is indifferent to the consequences for ordinary people, in un-meetable financial penalties and criminal records. We must do as they (or rather the EU) says or face the consequences. 'Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad'. Charles the First had a similar political approach to Gordon Brown and his minions.
- Peter Haldane, London
Before the age of wheelie bins we used to have a dustbin that was about half the size of a wheelie bin. How is it that a bin that size used to be sufficient? The government talks about what its doing for the environment with all the recycling measures but it needs to start earlier in the chain with reducing packaging.
- Marie, London
Don´t forget George Orwell was British so he knew what he was writing about.
- Peter Glazier, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Also remember that councils are voted in by you. Make sure that you vote out the lunatics as soon as you get the chance. We are being walked upon by lunatics with power. We need to stop this and reverse this madness.
- Gazza, London/UK
I am happy to be no longer living nor paying taxes in the UK, if this is what it is being spent on.
- Rant From Abroad, Stockholm Sweden
What a joke. This country is really falling apart if money, time and no common sense is spent on things like this. What a mess...pardon the pun!
- Ed S, Formerly London
The services get worse as we pay more Council Tax (largely to fund the early retirement pensions and inflated salaries of the officials) and their fancy titles and jobs proliferate. It is a disgrace that the end user i.e. you and me are responsible for recycling. All packaging, bottles cans papers, plastic etc should be marked with a return fee and when the empties are returned to source the fee refunded. I am sure the scouts or charities would be happy to collect the empties then like they used to. The supermarket could put my shopping in a paper bag like they do in the USA - there must be enough recycled paper about. This further manifestation of the police state we live in should be resisted at the ballot box on May 1
- Pete, Barry Wales
Perhaps next time he'll pay the fine on time?
- Bill Posters, Cheam
It just shows the mess this country is in.
These unelected faceless people in their ivory towers don't live in the real world. "come the revolution"
- Mick Jack, wellingborough uk
Why does the wheelie bin in the picture have Cardiff's emblem on it when this incident happened in north-west England? Were none of the local wheelie bins available to pose for the camera?
- Helen, London, UK
It may be hard to believe, but living with four small children will inevitably produce more than the usual amount of household rubbish. I can recall when my children how much I used to put out each week. Why doesn't the Cumbrian Council understand this? Why do Magistrates blindly enforce this sort of mindless cash-gouging of the vulnerable?
- Blackstone Coke, London
Hold on a minute! He ignored a fixed penalty notice (okay, fair enough, fines on garbage sound silly). So then they took him to court, and he failed to turn up and give his side of the story.
Not turning up after being summonsed is a pretty daft thing to do. I think they convicted him for being stupid.
- Roger, Guildford
If the bin is on the boundary of your property on not on the actual street, how can you be fined as you can store rubbish how you want on your own property?
- Tom, Watford UK
Reading the report I see he was not in court. What did he expect, he got a default judgement. Not only did he ignore the initial fine but he ignored the court. I suspect he also does not vote.
- Steve, London UK
This does seem ridiculous and excessive. What is this nonsense about not being allowed to put your bin out before 7am, is this so that the smell and sight of the fortnightly collected rubbish is hidden away? What do people who go to work early do?
I also noticed the farcical comment that the bin was not open 4 inches it was open 7 inches.
- Peter Sparkling, London, UK
Sometimes this country makes me sick. "We recycle everything we can". Even if I believed that, what about waste reduction? Why do we think it is our born right to throw things away. There is no "away", just stinking great big holes in the ground and, in many cases, our seas and oceans. So you struggle to get all your waste in one bin. There's a simple solution to that: don't throw away so much.
- Spike, High Wycombe
So much time and energy is being wasted on enforcing overflowing bins instead of catching the real criminals and punishing them. No logic at all!
- Moo, South London, UK
Glad to see our councils are doing their job on behalf of central government! fleecing the hard working Brit for all they can, while the government's advisors use their non-dom status to dodge taxes!
- W Joseph, London, England
He should empty the contents of his bin over the heads of the little Hitlers who are blighting our lives.
- Neil, London UK
How can this operation be cost effective bearing in mind that official "snoopers" need to be employed probably at a minimum of £15K per annum - and supplied with cameras- not to mention "back-up" staff to process any convictions.
Why not just collect the waste - which is why we all pay Council Tax -
and stop this nonsense introduced by 'Numpty's' who clearly lack a grasp of business and a dreadful grasp of public relations.
- Alan, Essex
We have allowed ourselves to sleepwalk into an Orwellian nightmare of bureaucracy and stupidity. We see householders persecuted, fined and criminalised when no crime has taken place. We see anti-social behaviour excused and let off with cautions.
Local authorities need a reality check. If the bin is ajar or even completely open, perhaps that is because you are not emptying them frequently enough.
It is high time the British public took back control of their local authorities and made them work for the taxes we pay rather than for their own benefit.
- Marc, Harrow, UK
The only criminals here are the council....welcome to the Brown society.
- Ben, Chessington, Surrey
This reminds me of Nazi Germany. Resistance is futile!
- Ian Gilbertson, Newcastle
It is about time the Refuse Gestapo are taken out. Every other week I watch the green bin men go through them and leave them if they do to come up to their standards, but then every week I see the (2) dust men carry a bin full of steaming cat litter (so heavy it needs two of them to pick it up) and put that in the cart with no quibble. Where is the logic in that. Surely that is not environmentally friendly. When I was a kid the pet cat made do with a box full of dirt from the garden, if necessary, and then it was recycled back into the garden?
- Monica, UK
Sorry Mr corkhill you have just become a victim of one of the growing number of jobworthys this country has to put up with.
I would be very interested in seeing all the expenses claimed by your council and have them checked for validity. Would be interesting if some of them turned out to be fraudulent maybe someone might take them to court
Not a chance
PS Never give a little man with a high pitched rant a position of power (you know how you are)
- Cliff Allman, Chester UK
Well, if he voted for the New Lie he only has himself to blame.
Remember sheeple keep voting for the Big Smile!
Big smile, big smile.
Baaaaaaaa.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
According to the guy called John Ransford from the Local Government Association that rubbish is "dangerous".
Well, Mr. Ransford, rubbish is not dangerous, but talking utter rubbish is. Now how do we fix that?
- Fran, London
I have an idea to stop this nonsense, more regular collections!
- Stu Selwood, Tipton, uk
I hope that nobody is surprised at this. Make your next vote count.
- Les, Essex, UK
Thank God I left Britain. Any excuse to bleed the Taxpayer.
- Michael Read, Peachland, Canada
