Mother fined £400 for leaving wheelie bin in wrong place

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Holly Dutton, 26, failed to pay a £100 fixed penalty notice issued when she left the bin in an alley behind her house in Horwich, near Bolton.

Magistrates have increased the fine to £130 and added £215 in costs, plus a £15 surcharge towards a fund for victims of crime.

The case is the first in a crackdown by council bosses who claim bins left on the street or in alleys are a magnet for arsonists.

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Council bosses claim people who do not bring their bins into their back yards between collection times attract arsonists

The mother of two, an agency carer who shares the terrace house with her partner, Chris Heaton, 26, said they kept the bin in the alley because their yard was very small.

She said: "This has come out of the blue. It looks to us like a council money-making scheme that deliberately targets poorer families in smaller properties."

Bolton council said Miss Dutton ignored a warning of the "legal requirement to bring a wheelie bin back within the boundary of a property between collections".

Miss Dutton said: "The only warning we ever got was about recycling.

"We had kept the bin in the alleyway for seven years because the yard is only 8ft by 4ft and if you keep rubbish there it starts to stink."

Bolton council said that Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, it is an offence to leave a bin outside a property between collections. Householders face a fixed penalty fine of £100 or prosecution if they fail to pay up. Fines are reduced to £75 if paid within 10 days.

Council spokeswoman Elaine Sherrington said: "We don't take the decision to prosecute lightly. This case shows that ignoring our advice and failing to act on a fixed penalty notice could be pursued through the courts."