Gran slapped with £500 fine for putting folded clothes in donation bin

A stunned grandmother received a £500 fine for ‘fly-tipping’ after leaving a neatly folded bag of clothes next to a full donation bin.

Kind-hearted Susan Cowdery, 66, brought her old clothes and others belonging to her grandkids to a British Heart Foundation collection bank in Dartford, Kent.  And as it was brimming with garments, she placed her bags by the bin believing it was imminently due to be emptied.

But not long after her act of charity, she received a letter from her local council accusing her of fly-tipping – and issuing her with a fine of £500.

The OAP, who regularly removes rubbish from the roadside, said she was horrified by the suggestion that she had deliberately blighted her local area.

She said: “I was shocked, and I went back to them and said I wasn’t fly-tipping. I thought because it’s full-up it’s probably going to be collected soon. I abhor fly-tipping and fly-tippers. I am a responsible citizen who regularly clears litter from my roadside area.”

Susan, who received the fine on August 27, said she had later appealed to Dartford council to dismiss the hefty penalty. But while she said the local authority had agreed to extend the deadline for the payment, they refused to cancel it.

Susan and her husband Phil Cowdery are now refusing to pay up, saying they are fighting the fine on a matter of principle.

Phil claimed: “The council doesn’t catch the real fly-tippers, this is a way of getting their numbers up. The sad thing is the British Heart Foundation will suffer now because we won’t put clothes in there.”

Susan, who has just retired, urged the council to tackle more pressing instances of rubbish dumping. She added: “We see it everywhere, all the fly-tipping with the mattresses. That’s what they need to sort out.”

For five weeks after receiving the fine, Phil visited the donation site on Hawley Road and found that it was brimming – and did not appear to have been cleared.

He also says signs to deter people from leaving bags are not next to the donation banks – with most of the instructions on a metal fence on a different side to the bins.

Phil, a company director, said: “The fact it’s all neatly folded in a black bag, we thought that’s as good a reason as any for it not to be considered as fly-tipping. I’ve never seen the bin empty. If they are emptying it they are not doing it enough.”

When reporters recently visited the site with the couple, the bin had been cleared. But Phil said this was the first time he’d seen it empty in almost six weeks.

The pair, who have nine grandchildren between them, feel a warning would have been a more reasonable response from the council. Susan says the experience has been so “stressful” that it raised her blood pressure.

Area manager for the British Heart Foundation Jack Watson said he was “sorry” to hear of Susan and Phil’s experience. He admitted that out of four donation points in Dartford, the Hawley Road donation bin was the only one emptied fortnightly instead of weekly.

Jack said: “After hearing of Susan and Phil’s experience, we have temporarily increased the frequency of collections at Hawley Road to allow more people to generously donate their unwanted, good-quality clothes. If one of our donation banks is full or your local shop is closed, please don’t leave your bag outside.

“Contact your local shop during opening hours and they may be able to offer you a free collection, or invite you to bring your donations into the store at a convenient time. Alternatively, you can check to see if another nearby bank has space. We are very grateful for all quality donations which help us fund our life-saving research.”

Dartford Council has been contacted for a comment.