Harrow Council expresses disappointment over a fine issued to a young girl for flytipping, raising concerns about enforcement practices.
Harrow: You won’t believe what just happened! A council in North London is really upset after a five-year-old girl got slapped with a £1,000 fine for flytipping. Can you imagine? The council leader, Cllr Paul Osborn, was totally disappointed when he found out.
So, here’s the scoop. Last November, this enforcement team sent a fine to the little girl’s home, claiming she was caught by an officer doing something wrong. But it turns out, they just found some packaging with her name on it, and she wasn’t even seen doing anything wrong. Crazy, right?
They did cancel the fine later, but it came up again in a meeting where Cllr Osborn was asked how they could avoid such silly mistakes in the future. Another councillor, Cllr Antonio Weiss, wanted to know how they could manage things better so that the council doesn’t get a bad name.
Osborn said he was really let down by how the fine was handled and mentioned that it didn’t follow the proper procedures. The girl’s dad was understandably worried about the stress this was causing his daughter and the financial hit they might take.
APCOA, the enforcement partner, has been on the job since last July and has issued thousands of fines for environmental issues. But it seems like many residents are also complaining about their fines, which has raised some eyebrows.
At the meeting, Osborn said they’re in talks with APCOA and the other councils involved to sort things out. He made it clear that if they don’t shape up, they might just end their partnership with them. The council’s Managing Director backed him up, saying they’ve been pretty firm with APCOA about their performance.
APCOA didn’t respond when asked for a comment, but it looks like the council is serious about making changes. Let’s hope they get it sorted out soon!
