A woman’s refusal to clear up her front garden has cost her more than £1,500.
Magistrates heard council environmental health chiefs had ordered Briony Timbrell to clear away the bags full of rubbish in the front of her home in Knowle West, and then took her to court for breaching the ‘community protection notice’ they’d issued to her.
The 27-year-old was charged with failing to comply with the notice because she failed to ‘arrange for the disposal of all waste from the front of the property, and stopped allowing waste to accumulate there.'
Hiring a licensed waste clearance firm, or a skip to put the waste in, would have cost less than £100, but magistrates fined Timbrell, of Torrington Avenue, £500.
She was also ordered to pay costs totalling £962.33, and a £50 surcharge towards victim services.
That brought the total amount she must pay to £1,512.23. Timbrell, who did not appear at Bristol Magistrates Court, was convicted and fined in her absence.
A spokesperson for the Bristol Neighbourhood Enforcement Team, which brought the prosecution, said: “Despite repeated requests and finally being issued with a Community Protection Notice, the occupant continued to let rubbish build up.”
Knowle West waste clearance boss Chris ‘Skemer’ Winters urged people not to let themselves be caught and fined like this.
“I charge £2 a bag, and this would have been £50 tops,” Mr Winters said. “This has cost this lady £1500 when it would have cost her £50 to dispose of legally.”
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