More residents complain about Rother's litter enforcement

Ian Huxley said he was accused of fly-tipping on the pavement when his boxes were on the shop-front area for 30 minutes

More residents have complained about litter enforcement in Rother after a woman said she had been charged £400 for fly-tipping when she cleared up rubbish from a street near her home.

Olivia Post, from Battle, East Sussex, was fined after being told council bins were not for controlled domestic waste.

Now a Rye shopkeeper has said he was penalised for leaving cardboard outside his premises for half an hour.

Rother council said fly-tipping and littering were criminal offences.

Shop owner Ian Huxley said he left delivery boxes outside for 30 minutes while attending to customers, but was fined £400 after an enforcement officer accused him of fly-tipping on the pavement.

He said the boxes were on the shop-front area, adding: "He asked for my paperwork to show that I was a licenced carrier of cardboard which I had in the shop, which I showed him. He then turned quite nasty, enforced his fine and walked out the shop."

At nearby Cafe des Fleurs, owner Lucy Forrester said: "One particular couple were out there smoking one day, dropped a cigarette and they came straight over and didn't even give them a chance to pick it up.

"The lady offered to pick it up and they gave her a £150 fine there and then."

Lucy Forrester said a couple dropped a cigarette butt and the woman offered to pick it up but was still fined

Brightling resident Jamie Lowe said he was threatened with a maximum penalty of £50,000 or 12 months in prison because he left household recycling next to overflowing bins at a tip, following a missed collection.

He said law-abiding people were being accused of fly-tipping for responding in what they thought was the best way to solve a situation that, he said, was the "direct fault" of the council.

Mr Lowe said he was prepared to go to court and was considering not paying the fine.

Rother District Council has since offered to reimburse Ms Post if she pays up but said the notice was issued correctly.

Jamie Lowe said he was prepared to go to court to fight his case

In a statement, Rother District Council said fly-tipping and littering were a blight on communities, costing £70,000 a year.

The council said it had been forced to take action, including hiring private contractors.

It said dropping cigarette butts or leaving rubbish by bins contributed to the problem.

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