A few days later, he received a letter alleging fly-tipping, after the envelope was discovered inside a black bin bag in a bin meant exclusively for purple bin bags. After completing a council questionnaire, he was issued a \u00a31,000 fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a joke… I opened the letter and couldn\u2019t believe it. For an envelope? I was shocked. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor \u00a310, okay… but \u00a31,000? It\u2019s too much. It\u2019s not fair. <\/p>\n
\u201cI said I\u2019m sorry if I made a mistake. But this is not right. This is not justice.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hounslow Council says the penalty was issued after a single item of waste containing his name and address was recovered. It uses a formal caution questionnaire process before issuing fines, allowing individuals to explain how their waste came to be at the site. <\/p>\n
The council confirmed it has issued 1,842 fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping at the \u00a31,000 level between April and December 2025, following an increase to the maximum fine permitted under rules set by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. <\/p>\n
It says the policy is designed to deter offenders and tackle a problem costing \u00a34 million a year. <\/p>\n
Environmental law barrister Gordon Wignall told LBC the offence is one of \u201cstrict liability\u201d, meaning intent is not required. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you deposit waste where it shouldn\u2019t be then the offence is made out\u201d, adding that while councils can set fines up to \u00a31,000, they are not obliged to do so in every case. <\/p>\n
He described the outcome as \u201cvery unfair\u201d, noting councils can choose how they apply enforcement. <\/p>\n
In response to the claims, Hounslow Council said it is taking a zero-tolerance approach, highlighting that fly-tipping costs taxpayers thousands of pounds each month.<\/p>\n
They added that whilst they exercise discretion in how fines are applied, Defra sets the maximum FPN amount. <\/p>\n
Waste policy expert Andrew Waite also called the decision \u201can overreaction\u201d and warned it risks undermining basic legal principles. <\/p>\n
Waite, who formerly advised the government and European Commission on rubbish disposal, said \u201cit is wholly inappropriate\u2026 to have an across-the-board decision that anybody should receive \u00a31,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s completely different if someone dumps a vanload of waste by the roadside compared to putting a single envelope in a bin.\u201d <\/p>\n
He also questioned whether sufficient evidence had been considered, warning councils must meet a high threshold before issuing penalties and properly assess any challenges. <\/p>\n
Despite the criticism, Hounslow Council says its approach is necessary to tackle widespread environmental damage and rising clean-up costs. <\/p>\n
Reacting specifically to the case of Mr Ratkevicius, they claim the FPN was paused after LBC got involved, as he denies the offence and the current evidence is inconclusive. <\/p>\n
They added that public feedback has consistently highlighted fly-tipping as an urgent concern, with residents calling for decisive action. <\/p>\n
In a statement, Councillor Pritam Grewal said: \u201cWe are committed to protecting the local environment and taking a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping. Keeping our streets and public spaces clean is a top priority for residents, many of whom are frustrated by others in the community who ignore the rules and dump rubbish. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile no one likes receiving a fine, residents expect us to tackle offences and hold offenders accountable consistently. <\/p>\n
\u201cFly-tipping not only makes our streets messy and unpleasant, but it also costs the council \u00a34 million a year – taxpayers\u2019 money that should be spent on services and projects that benefit our communities.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few days later, he received a letter alleging fly-tipping, after the envelope was discovered inside a black…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-498421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}