The Council can issue a range of Fixed Penalty Notices (fines) for offences that can have a negative impact on the local environment; these include offences relating to litter, dog fouling, fly tipping, waste and abandonment of vehicles.
In the case of a littering or flytipping offence the officer(s) may take a photograph for evidential purposes, however, to issue a fine the officer(s) only has to witness the offence - they may if it's safe and practical to do so pick up the litter as it may at a later date be used as an exhibit should a case go for prosecution.
A third party can report an incident, however we may not be able to issue a fine because the offence has to be witnessed by an authorised officer. If the person who witnessed the offence is certain of what they saw, we may take a statement and issue a fine afterwards depending on the details and circumstances.
The council can issue fixed penalty notices (fines) for the offence of littering, dog fouling and fly tipping, under section 88 (1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
You will have received a Fixed Penalty Notice because an Authorised officer of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council had reason to believe that you have committed an offence, the details of the offence are outlined in the schedule on the Fixed Penalty Notice.
Within the 14 day period set out in the Fixed Penalty Notice you must either pay it or request that the matter be heard by a court. You may not do both.
There is no appeal process for a Fixed Penalty Notice for littering, dog fouling, fly tipping or any other similar fine. However, it is possible to informally question the circumstances of a Fixed Penalty Notice.
Can I appeal or complain about my fine?
DEFRA offer guidelines on the use of Fixed Penalty Notices and state that 'the public generally welcome the use of Fixed Penalties, provided that they are issued sensibly, enforced even handedly and are seen as a response to genuine problems.'