Grieving King's Hill mum fined £300 for flytipping after attempting to donate dead husband's clothes

KentOnline / KMTV

A grieving mum says she’s being treated “like a criminal” after being fined £300 for placing her late husband’s clothes by a donation bin which was full.  Sophie Scott took the clothes to the Salvation Army charity bin in Asda car park in Kings Hill.

Transcript

00:00we're all for not littering we're all for not fly tipping but this is neither and they're just

00:04trying to make a quick buck i think we've all looked at old clothes and put off finally finding

00:09a new home for them but for sophie scott from kings hill it was the act of giving that gave

00:13her the most trouble after she returned home with a hefty fine they were completely full and there

00:18was um other bags all around here and over here and i left mine neatly just there and as i drove

00:24away a warden told me to slow down and said that he was going to find me for fly tipping and it would

00:30be 300 pounds i was very distressed because i'm about to have the funeral for my husband who passed

00:35away very recently um so it's been an incredibly difficult time and i was visibly very very upset

00:41and told him that my mind was elsewhere i hadn't seen any sign i would never fly tip i'm incredibly

00:48upset and he did absolutely nothing he just said he was filming me and that i needed to take it up

00:53the council i simply can't afford a 300 pound fine um i have one income now and uh just just

01:01awful awful behavior the fine enforcer was part of a third party company called kingdom hired by

01:06tombridge and mauling council following the ordeal sophie rang the council who she says was sympathetic

01:11and offered to freeze the fine while they looked into the incident but for sophie she says her

01:16experience is just the tip of the iceberg i'm not the first complaint they've had so i think this is

01:21just the start of something i just hope this really helps everybody else who's received fines and i

01:27really hope that it doesn't deter people from giving to charity but um yeah i hope this can be made an

01:35example really for everybody else and the council finally wake up and see what's actually happening

01:40here a spokesperson for third party enforcement company kingdom said while it is correct that under

01:46current legislation this may be classified as fly tipping we encourage our officers to consider

01:52all available evidence at the time of assessment a spokesperson for tombridge and mauling borough

01:57council said we are currently in contact with the resident concerned and understand that this

02:02incident occurred at a difficult time for her the fixed penalty notice was issued in line with our

02:07standard policy and the signs displayed at the recycling site both parties have encouraged sophie

02:12and those in a similar situation to begin an appeals process chloe brewster for kmtv in kings hill

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