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Van Driver Fined £300 For Carrying Plastic Bag Of Rubbish

Van Driver Fined £300 For Carrying Plastic Bag Of Rubbish

Stewart Gosling, a roofer, was given a £300 fine for transporting waste without a licence - even though the rubbish was from his lunch

Mike Wood

Mike Wood

A white van driver has been fined £300 - for keeping rubbish in his vehicle.

Stewart Gosling was slapped with the fine by council workers after he kept empty crisp packets, sandwich wrappers and water bottles in a plastic waste bag in his van - which authorities deemed to be carrying rubbish without permission.

SWNS

"It's so infuriating. The working class man gets penalised for going to work basically," said Stewart, 43, a roofer from Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.

"I've not fly-tipped. I've not left it in someone's garden. It's frustrated the hell out of me. There was just a bag of rubbish, bottles, crisp packets, newspapers and sandwich wrappers.

"What gets me is the lack of common sense. It's a lot of money for one bag of rubbish."

SWNS

He was driving through Chingford in London when he was pulled over by employees of Waltham Forest Council.

They searched his van and deemed that he was transporting waste industrially - even though the bag simply contained the remnants of his lunch. He was given a fine for 'failure to furnish documentation (waste carriers licence)'.

"I got out of the van and he had a look," said Stewart.

SWNS

"They were talking about a plastic bag around two feet high, which was filled with rubbish from my lunch. He [the council representative] just said, 'You're going to be fined'."

The £300 [$390] was due to be paid within two weeks of the fine being handed down on 23 May. Gosling has appealed the fixed penalty notice but this was rejected.

While he could be prosecuted for not paying the fine, he has no intention of paying it.

"It seems a bit steep to be honest. A warning would have been more understandable," he said.

"It just aggravated me. It should be common sense. I had no idea you needed a waste licence, you have to be polite to these people but it annoyed me."

A spokesperson for Waltham Forest Council was clear on the issue, saying: "The waste in this case was being transported in commercial refuse bag in the trader's vehicle.

"Regardless of what the items are, if waste is being stored in a commercial refuse bag in a trader's van it is necessary that they have a valid waste carriers' license (sic).

"It is widely recognised as best practice for tradesmen to be licensed to avoid legal repercussions, in the event they are required to transport even small quantities of waste."

Featured Image Credit: SWNS

Topics: UK News, Weird