Scrap Heap For Britain's 'Barmy Bin Rules'

[Sirius]

"Heavy-handed bin fines have for too long been used to punish people for innocent mistakes. We are now consigning them to the scrap heap of history," Ms Spelman said.
"We want to see people helping us to boost recycling rates by putting out their rubbish correctly, but bullying them with fines is not the way to do it," she said.

My local council will fine you for having your bin lid open by only one inch, They even issued the bin men with a handy guage to check with.

So removal of barmy rules and fines is about time.

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16149322

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16564592

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Sirius

My local council will fine you for having your bin lid open by only one inch, They even issued the bin men with a handy guage to check with.

So removal of barmy rules and fines is about time.

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16149322

Yes and about time too Sirius in my mind.

[Gary L]

There has to be a catch somewhere. there always is.

"There will still be a fine there for people who deliberately make a mistake but it's going to be proportionate and if people settle it early it will be as little as £40."

I've never understood this thing about getting a discount if you pay a fine early.

if it's a £100 fine for killing somebody, and it's proven that you actually did it beyond any doubt. then why do they let you only pay £50 instead of £100 if you pay it within 14 days?

it sort of makes the punishment a lesser crime.
before you would have thought twice because of the expense it will be. but you can go out and kill 2 for the price of one now.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Gary L

There has to be a catch somewhere. there always is.



I've never understood this thing about getting a discount if you pay a fine early.

if it's a £100 fine for killing somebody, and it's proven that you actually did it beyond any doubt. then why do they let you only pay £50 instead of £100 if you pay it within 14 days?

it sort of makes the punishment a lesser crime.
before you would have thought twice because of the expense it will be. but you can go out and kill 2 for the price of one now.

Yes Gary lets have fines for murder.

[Gary L]

Don't worry Sirius. the government aren't considering it yet.

but it is silly why they reduce the amount if it's paid early.

If nobody commited the offences then you wouldn't make any money, would you?
we know. that's why we offer discounts.

[Sirius]

From the BBC link

According to figures previously obtained by the Sunday Telegraph, almost 5,000 fixed penalty notices worth £215,955 were issued between May 2010 and April 2011 for offences such as using the wrong sacks for recycling or overfilling wheelie bins.

And you can bet that would have increased as councils have there ability to increase the council tax reduced. Here they are increasing the cost of parking, considering charging for you using the waste site, Changing bin collections to once fortnightly in opposition to the government plans.

Basically squeezing every penny they can out of you by any means. Its what i have come to expect from my local Labour council

[Maggy J]

How many of those fines were for fly tippers..Because those are the barstewards I want hung ,drawn and quartered because they are the ones who make our back lanes and parks and verges and open land look a total mess and cost the local councils and us millions each and every year.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

How many of those fines were for fly tippers..Because those are the barstewards I want hung ,drawn and quartered because they are the ones who make our back lanes and parks and verges and open land look a total mess and cost the local councils and us millions each and every year.

Well it does say in the qoute the fines were for using the "wrong sacks for recycling or overfilling wheelie bins"

[Maggy J]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Well it does say in the qoute it was for using the "wrong sacks for recycling or overfilling wheelie bins"

Well flytippers do tend to chuck their stuff where they see other stuff apparently dumped..but my point is that the local councils do have flytipping to deal with and this maybe what has led to the over zealous nature of the fines.
After all how many times have you seen rubbish dumped alongside legit rubbish at the kerbside and the dustmen won't take it away and then it's sits there for days and others decide to add to it?

Not that I'm saying that the ridiculous nature of some of the fines are right.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Well flytippers do tend to chuck their stuff where they see other stuff apparently dumped..but my point is that the local councils do have flytipping to deal with and this maybe what has led to the over zealous nature of the fines.
After all how many times have you seen rubbish dumped alongside legit rubbish at the kerbside and the dustmen won't take it away and then it's sits there for days and others decide to add to it?

Not that I'm saying that the ridiculous nature of some of the fines are right.

I see the results of fly tipping as i drive around and its not the best site. If councils reduced the cost of using landfill sites it might reduce some of the fly tipping that occurs. However i only see it increasing as councils look into charging for using waste sites for household rubbish

[heero_yuy]

I'm glad to see these draconian rules binned. I mean giving someone a criminal record for putting the wrong sacks out or leaving a wheelie bin out too long. Sledgehammer to kill a butterfly comes to mind but typical of the control freakery that was prevelent in the last few years.

Same as giving unelected council pen pushers access to anti-terrorist laws to abuse. What madness was that?

Maybe we need a minister for common sense to dismantle all the stupid laws and regulations.

[martyh]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

I'm glad to see these draconian rules binned. I mean giving someone a criminal record for putting the wrong sacks out or leaving a wheelie bin out too long. Sledgehammer to kill a butterfly comes to mind but typical of the control freakery that was prevelent in the last few years.

Same as giving unelected council pen pushers access to anti-terrorist laws to abuse. What madness was that?

Maybe we need a minister for common sense to dismantle all the stupid laws and regulations.

I'm glad the stupid fines got binned ,but it didn't give a person a criminal record if they did get fined

[Mick Fisher]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

I'm glad to see these draconian rules binned. I mean giving someone a criminal record for putting the wrong sacks out or leaving a wheelie bin out too long. Sledgehammer to kill a butterfly comes to mind but typical of the control freakery that was prevelent in the last few years.

Same as giving unelected council pen pushers access to anti-terrorist laws to abuse. What madness was that?

Maybe we need a minister for common sense to dismantle all the stupid laws and regulations.

I have to wholeheartedly agree.

My local council went from a weekly black bag collection and coloured boxes for recycling, which nobody knew when they were to be collected, to 2 huge wheelie bins, one for refuse and one for all dry recyclables collected fortnightly. They also supplied a tiny caddie for food waste that they said would be collected weekly. However they made absolutely no provision for the disabled, elderly or people unable to use wheelie bins due to lack of space, flats etc. They also provided no means of labelling the bins as to what address they belong to as other authorities seem to.

As a result because I could not use the system and despite twice weekly phone calls I had no refuse or recycling collected for 6 weeks. Eventually an occupational therapist got involved and I was issued with bags again but I now have to live with a fortnightly food waste collection and a back garden full of superfluous wheelie bins.

As for fly tipping, IIRC it costs £12.00 per item to get bulky items, old domestic appliances, furniture ETC, carted off by the council. A bit expensive IMO but you ring up, give all the details and your CC number and wait and wait and wait and nothing ever happens.

The last thing I got disposed of was an old freezer that they finally collected after 3 years or so. It is little wonder that people turn to other contractors who purport to remove rubbish but in reality, probably fly tip it.

BTW and probably nothing to do with anything, but my local extortionists are Tory. I guess the political leanings have nothing much to do with incompetent, self serving councillors and local council madness though.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by martyh

I'm glad the stupid fines got binned ,but it didn't give a person a criminal record if they did get fined

You sure about that?

Rulebreakers can be hit with £100 on-the-spot fines or court prosecutions that will give them a criminal record.

Source

[martyh]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

You sure about that?



Source

Yes ,not paying the penalty would result in a court appearance and a criminal record in much the same way as not paying a parking fine or fixed penalty for speeding