As responsible citizens, we must keep our streets and neighbourhoods clean by disposing of waste properly and participating in community clean-up efforts. However, in a bizarre incident, a couple in the UK has been fined £1,200 (Rs 1,30,079) by their local council after they cleaned up garbage outside their home. BBC informed of.
The couple said their street had been littered with “disgusting” rubbish for years. Taking matters into their own hands, Veronika Mike and her boyfriend Zoltan Pinter, from Stoke-on-Trent, decided to clear up the rubbish themselves. On April 29, they packed food scraps and packaging into a cardboard box and placed it next to the bin to stop it scattering, in the hope the council would remove it.
A few days later on May 8 they received a fine from the council stating they had “failed to hand over household waste to the authorised authority”. Instead of gratitude, they both received fines of £600 each for their efforts.
The letter sent by the council said: “This letter is being issued to you because you have failed in your legal duty to transfer controlled waste to an authorised person. Evidence has been obtained that the items shown in the photograph provided have come from your home address.”
It further states, “The allegation is not that you placed the waste at that place, but that you failed in your legal duty when moving household goods. It is the legal duty of households to ensure that the waste is transferred to authorised persons so as to prevent fly tipping.”
Mr Pinter paid the fine immediately, while Ms Mike is paying it off in monthly instalments of £100. ”We just wanted to clean our street and that’s the thanks we get from the council. At first I was very angry and cried. I have volunteered to pick up litter before, and I did the same thing and was fined £600 twice for no reason. It was fine for the first few years, but since then there is always a mess on the street. The bins are right in front of our main entrance, it’s disgusting,” Ms Mike said.
After their experience, the couple vowed they would never clean their streets again “even if the rats come”.
Now he has launched a fundraising campaign to pay off the fines he received to clean up the area. He has received a lot of support from people and has raised over £2000 on GoFundMe.
City Councillor Amjid Wazir said the matter has been resolved.