Neighbours are fined £600 EACH by ‘over the top’ council after officers insist their recycling is fly-tipping… despite it being picked up in same place for years

Neighbors were furious after they were fined £600 each by ‘senior’ council officers who mistook their recycling for fly tipping.

Fiona Muir, from Ealing, west London, said she and her neighbors have been leaving their recycling on the lawn for years because they live on a red route, which means vehicles are prohibited from stopping in front of their house.

But Muir said that after putting cardboard boxes in the usual place for collection, his own home and those next to it were hit with ‘threatening’ letters from Ealing Council and were each fined £600 for fly tipping.

The homeowner has since vowed to ‘never recycle again’ and slammed ‘senior’ council officers for issuing incorrect fines.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘This is deeply disturbing and threatening to those who receive these and are clearly innocent.

‘We think we’re good residents and that’s wrong. ‘They brand us as criminals.’

Ms Muir added: ‘This is how we take our recycling out for collection and have been doing this for years with no problems.’

The homeowner said there was a problem with fly tipping in the area and that he had reported serious cases of this to the council before.

A council officer collected residents’ information from labels on recycling and fined Ms Muir’s home and her neighbour.

Ms Muir, who lodged an appeal to challenge the sentences, said she received another letter saying the case had been suspended pending further review by an officer.

But Ms Muir fears further fines as she cannot put her recycling directly outside her home due to the nature of the road.

‘It was just sad. “We used to think quite positively of Ealing Council but now we’re really disappointed with them,” he said.

‘We are now in a situation where we are appealing and expect them to get back to us within 20 days. I hope they will come to their senses and cancel this, but we have to wait.

‘The tone is aggressive and I think an older person would be really upset if they picked this up. This is truly incredible and wrong.’

Ms Muir said there was a wheelie bin next to the house for rubbish, but they were always told to leave their recycling on the edge of the lawn.

‘This is the procedure we always do. “If this changes, they need to inform us properly,” he said.

‘This is so wrong and illogical when everyone is really struggling in this environment.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Ealing Council for comment.

It comes just months after Ealing Council launched a campaign titled ‘This is our home, not a tip’ to crack down on anti-social refuse trucks and threaten fly tippers with fines of up to £1,000.

The penalty replaces the old limit of £400, which was less than half the new FPN amount.

Recycling left to be collected in Mrs Muir’s lane in Ealing, West London

The council recorded 22,730 fly tipping incidents across the borough in 2024 and spends around £3 million a year on litter clearance and disposal.

Last week a Londoner was fined £150 for dumping the remains of his coffee down the drain after being ‘chased’ by three council officers.

Burcu Yeşilyurt, from Kew in west London, said she spilled a small portion of the drink from her reusable glass into the road canal because she did not want to spill it inside the bus.

But moments later, while standing at the bus stop near the Richmond station, she was ‘shocked’ to see three male law enforcement officers ‘chasing’ her down the street.

Officers fined him £150 under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; It is reduced to £100 if paid within 14 days.

Ms Yesilyurt said she found the encounter ‘quite frightening’ and felt ‘shaken up’ on her way to work.

But Richmond-upon-Thames Council insisted its officers ‘acted professionally and objectively’ and were ‘right’ to impose the penalty.

The council later said it had rescinded the penalty and was ‘reviewing our advice on the disposal of liquids in public places’.