"A man has spoken out after being fined £225 for overfilling his wheelie bin by four inches.

Gareth Corkhill, 26, of Whitehaven, Cumbria, was stunned to receive a fixed penalty notice from Copeland Borough Council.

He was charged with overfilling his bin, which had its lid raised but did not pay the fine of £110 and was taken to court, where he was ordered to pay an extra £100 in prosecution costs and a £15 court surcharge.

"My bin lid was only open four inches," he said.

I was in shock when I found about the fine. I couldn't believe they would do that.

"I have my rubbish collected every fortnight. There are five people in my family, three children, me and my wife. Plus I have my daughter over the weekends.

"We recycle everything we can, including plastics, cardboard, tins, glass and paper. We have got a black box that is always full.

"It's only an £80 fine for flytipping. I would have been better off doing that."

In a statement the council said: "Copeland Borough Council will continue to crack down on the problem of overflowing bins, which cause problems for local residents and in the battle to reduce waste.

"It is important that we all reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill.

"We can do this by recycling more of what is in our bins, and we would advise anyone who has a problem with too much waste to look at what can be recycled."

We moved out just before our local council introduced a similar measure.

One wheelie bin, one black box  per family irrespective of the size of the family and a fixed penalty fine if stuff was put in the wrong container.

Spain maybe a little slow at times but even out here in the campo our bins are emptied  6 days a week.

England; such a green and pleasant land...

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And just to add on - cost of council tax in England has gone through the roof, whereas it is cheaper in Spain for a better service!

C

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I just cant believe what these councils get away with and no one seems to take them to task in the UK. Recently a large tax rise was proposed in Estepona and 7000 took to the streets. Perhaps people in the UK need to take a leaf out of their book.

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Hi Foxbat the avater. As a child in the mid-fifties I used to stand at the end of the runway (Waddington Airodrome) and these used to take off over my head. I was fascinated by the power and agility of these aircraft and now aproaching 60 I still have not lost that fascination. I was very pleased last week to see that one of these has been restored to airworthy, which will give a chance to younger generations to witness what Britain was capable of building when it was a leader in aviation.

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Today was the day we had to put out our garden rubbish, collected fortnightly. My OH put it out at edge of path by main road as detailed in the letter received ages ago. He put a small brick on top too which was asked of us all so, when the empty bag was left, it was not going to blow away. (Letter stated empty bag would be left by front door with brick on top). What a farce ? Every time the men empty the bags they chuck the brick to one side then empty the bag then throw the bag as far as they can into our gardens. People who are working often never see their bag again, the bags blow around in the wind till fetched in.

I was aware of the practice so once I waited & watched & then tackled them about it & got a mouthful about how much longer it would take for them to do as I'd mentioned. I said it wasn't my instructions but their employers but they were adamant & I gave up. We now just try & rescue our bag before it gets lost or blows into cars way.

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Are instructions are that we have to leave all bins at the edge of our property (end of driveway), not on the path or anywhere else on your driveway or you get a telling off. 

I once shot off to take my daughter school & forgot to put the bin in the correct place, it was 1 metre away from the edge against my fence.  They stuck a massive sticker on it telling me off & stating the rules!  The recycling bin men are totally different.  I sometimes get my weeks mixed up or don't put one out as only got a few bits in but they always get my bin off my drive & empty it.

Refuge men - 0

Recycling men - 1

C

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