A woman was given a £400 fine for fly-tipping after leaving a sofa at the front of her house while she arranged for it to be removed.
Jessica Stratton, who lives in Basford, had just had a new sofa delivered from a charity and had asked in advance whether the driver could take her old one away as a donation.
But when he arrived, he told her he couldn’t, and, with no room indoors, Ms Stratton moved the sofa onto the street while she called another charity to collect it the next morning.
On Wednesday, 11 March, a council enforcement officer arrived and and issued the £400 bill.
The 42-year-old now faces paying it off or going to court.
She said: “I think it’s outrageous. They’ve penalised me and made an example of me. I was getting rid of it that day, and there’s absolutely no room to leave it in here. It’s ridiculous.
“I haven’t intentionally committed a crime of fly-tipping. I haven’t dumped anything. If I were going to fly-tip, I wouldn’t do it outside my front door and risk incriminating myself. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Ms Stratton moved to her Basford property from London on 1 March, bringing her old sofa from her previous property.
But without a bed in the spare room and needing a place for her carer and visitors to stay, she bought a sofa bed from the British Heart Foundation.
When it arrived at around 4 pm on Tuesday, 10 March, the delivery driver told her he couldn’t take her old sofa as a donation, as she had intended, because it had a rip in the material.
But, in what Ms Stratton calls a “small little living room”, there was “absolutely no room” to leave the sofa in there.
The next morning, she had workmen deliver and install a washing machine and a cooker, whose path would have been hindered by another sofa.
She decided to leave it by her window on the pavement outside, as the sofa would not fit out the back door and, with no gate in her back garden, it would need to come out of the front door anyway.
At 10 am the next morning when the council arrived.
The officer stuck a yellow sticker on the furniture, told Ms Stratton of her rights, and advised her of the methods by which she could appeal if she felt the fine was incorrect.
He also told her to leave the sofa where it was, and that the council would pick it up.
A week later, she received a letter telling her she’d “admitted the offence” – which she refutes.
But the sofa still remains on the street – meaning the council has left it there longer than Ms Stratton did before she was fined.
She said: “If it had been a neighbour complaining, boy, would they be complaining now. But it’s outside my house. Surely I have some jurisdiction over things being outside my window? It’s not hindering the pavement. There’s plenty of room still. The bins are more of a hindrance.
“If it was that much of a problem, they would’ve taken it away that day, surely? They’ve basically made it a problem and then left the problem there. Now it makes me feel stupid because the big yellow sticker on it makes it look like I have dumped it. That was never my intention.
“It’s bang out of order and so unfair. They’re going after people. I’m trying my best. I didn’t even get a chance to report it to get it removed. I didn’t even know I was doing anything wrong. I think it’s terrible. (And) I don’t have £400, so I’m not paying it.”
Ms Stratton now says she plans to involve the Ombudsman and the local MP if the situation is not sorted out.
Nottingham City Council said it doesn’t comment on individual cases or ongoing matters, but explained that fixed penalty notices are issued when there is evidence of an offence having taken place, and that individuals are given information on how to appeal or challenge a notice if they believe it has been issued incorrectly.
