At a glance
Loretta Alvarez from Feltham said she was fined £1,000 after placing a cardboard envelope beside overflowing communal bins shared with 25 other households
Hounslow Council insists littering is illegal regardless of full bins, saying fines prevent taxpayers from covering cleanup costs
The mental health nurse says the penalty is disproportionate, could harm her career, and highlights inadequate bin provision and lack of council support
A single mother from west London has been fined £1,000 by her local council for “fly-tipping” an envelope.
Loretta Alvarez, 26, says her communal bins, shared with around 25 other properties in Feltham, were full, and she placed the cardboard envelope on top of cardboard next to the bins which were full.
The envelope was traced to her address by Hounslow Council and she is being threatened with legal action if she doesn't pay a £1,000 fine.
"I'm a single mum working as a mental health nurse. I pay all my rent, council tax and bills, I can't afford to pay that. I would never intentionally do that," Loretta said.
"It's been so stressful, I didn't want this to happen, I wouldn't want it to happen to someone else. I've been trying to juggle this alongside work, being a mum, it's been hard."
Hounslow Council told Loretta that she had until Wednesday (November 5) to make the payment in full, or she would face legal proceedings, of which she could be criminally charged.
She didnt pay the fine on Wednesday saying she simply doesn't have the cash.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she is concerned that this could affect her future employment and DBS checks.
She said: "I don't have that money to give, and I can't afford getting into debt to pay it, and I don't want to get a mark on my record. I'm a mental health nurse, I went to university for three years* they're fining me more than someone gets for speeding."
She added: "If all of that [including the stack of cardboard] was mine, would I really go to the press about it?"
The LDRS understands that following our enquiries, Hounslow Council put the fine on hold while it looked into it further. However it hasn't been cancelled and the council has since doubled down on the envelope fine.
In a statement, Councillor Pritam Grewal, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Customer Experience and Enforcement, said: "We remain committed to taking a zero-tolerance approach to littering and protecting the local environment.
"We are clear that we have done the right thing in dealing with this, and issuing the fine, because littering includes leaving waste anywhere in public apart from in a bin, regardless of whether bins are full. While we accept that no one likes receiving a fine, residents expect us to tackle the offence and the offenders.
"As well as making our streets look neglected, it is not fair that Hounslow Council's taxpayers have to foot the bill for littering and fly-tipping. Such costs could be spent on delivering vital services for our residents."
Loretta shares six large communal bins with over two dozen other households.. These are collected once a week She says that it is common that the bins get full before they are collected, and believes that the council needs to provide better bins for the tenants.
She added: "It does feel like they are targeting me. It's Christmas coming up, I don't have £1,000 lying around, not many people do, there are more important things they should be dealing with than an envelope.
"The bins are literally a few steps away from my front door, if anything I've littered, which I'll apologise for. I've seen people dumping cabinets - that's fly tipping, this isn't."
On our way to meet her, the LDRS encountered several dumped bags of waste, alongside a discarded fridge. The LDRS understands that details on the envelope were traced back to Loretta, while there was no identifying detail on the cardboard she says was left by other residents.
Loretta decided to head down to the council offices to try and resolve the matter, however when she arrived, she says she was told no one from the environmental team was in the building. Eventually, someone was found who could speak to her about the fine.
Loretta says this council officer told her that from the photographic evidence submitted, it is clear that the bins were full. She says that she was also told, separately, that the council takes her circumstances into consideration.
However, despite this, she says she was then told that everyone has to be treated equally and the same, and she therefore must pay the £1,000 fine.
She said: "Clearly they don't take it into consideration then. I even asked to set up a payment plan, they said no."
