A man from Lithuania has alleged that he was fined £1,000 by a diligent Labour council for disposing of an empty envelope in a public bin.
Nidas Ratkevicius, aged 47, received a letter from Hounslow council, which accused him of fly-tipping. The accusation arose after the envelope was found within a black bin bag in a bin designated for purple bags. Initially, Ratkevicius thought the situation was a prank.
The father expressed his dismay at receiving what he described as an ‘unjust’ and ‘enormous’ fixed penalty notice. He was left ‘shocked’ by the fine.
Despite Ratkevicius’s objections, the local authority initially upheld the decision, citing a ‘zero tolerance’ stance on fly-tipping. However, they have since paused the enforcement of the fine.
In an interview with LBC, Ratkevicius expressed the financial burden of the penalty: “It’s like taking bread from my family, £1,000 is not small money. For me, it’s huge.”
He also mentioned that he does not recall the incident, noting that he believed he was acting responsibly by placing rubbish in a bin he encountered.
He said: ‘I thought it was a joke… I opened the letter and couldn’t believe it. For an envelope? I was shocked. For £10, okay… but £1,000?
‘It’s too much. It’s not fair. I said I’m sorry if I made a mistake. But this is not right. This is not justice.’
Nidas Ratkevicius, 47, thought it was a ‘joke’ when he received a £1,000 fine for putting an empty envelope in a Hounslow street bin
Despite doing what he thought was right, Mr Ratkevicius told how there were fly-tipped mattresses, bags and other debris around the bin where he discarded the empty envelope.
Hounslow council issued the father with the heavy penalty after the envelope, which contained his name and address, was discovered.
The local authority issued 1,842 fines for £1,000 between April and December 2025 after the maximum penalty was increased by the previous Conservative government.
In July 2023 the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) hiked the upper limit that councils could impose for fly-tipping, from £400 to £1,000, in a move to crack down on ‘litter louts’.
Labour councillor Pritam Grewal, who is responsible for Hounslow’s enforcement strategy, told LBC in a statement: ‘We are committed to protecting the local environment and taking a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping.
‘Keeping our streets and public spaces clean is a top priority for residents, many of whom are frustrated by others in the community who ignore the rules and dump rubbish.
‘While no one likes receiving a fine, residents expect us to tackle offences and hold offenders accountable consistently.
‘Fly-tipping not only makes our streets messy and unpleasant, but it also costs the council £4million a year – taxpayers’ money that should be spent on services and projects that benefit our communities.’
Hounslow council issued Mr Ratkevicius with the heavy penalty after the envelope, which contained his name and address, was discovered
The Daily Mail has approached the council for further comment.
Mr Ratkevicius is not the first person to receive a fly-tipping fine over an envelope. In 2024 Stoke City Council jobsworths slapped a couple with a £400 littering fine after one of them put an envelope in a public bin, and they were tracked down by the address on the front.
Deborah and Ian Day were hit with fines of £200 each after fishing out the envelope which contained their address.
Mrs Day, who lives in Bentilee, Stoke-on-Trent, was on her way to work when she put the envelope in the street bin on her road.
But council investigators said this breaches sections 87 and 88 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and constituted it as an offence of littering because household waste cannot be put in a public bin.
And the incident in Hounslow comes after a woman was slapped with a £150 fine in October for pouring the remnants of her coffee down a drain after she was ‘chased’ by three council officers.
Burcu Yesilyurt, from Kew, west London, said she tipped a small amount of the drink from her reusable cup down the road gully because she didn’t want to spill it on the bus.
But moments later, she was ‘shocked’ to see three male enforcement officers ‘chasing’ her down the street as she stood at the bus stop near Richmond station.
Three male enforcement officers ‘chased’ Burcu Yesilyurt down the street as she stood at the bus stop near Richmond station (pictured)
The officers fined her £150 under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, reduced to £100 if she paid within 14 days.
Ms Yesilyurt said she found the encounter ‘quite intimidating’ and was left feeling ‘shaky’ on her way to work.
But Richmond-upon-Thames Council insisted its officers ‘acted professionally and objectively’ and were ‘justified’ in issuing the fine.
A spokesperson said body-worn camera footage was reviewed and they did ‘not agree that officers behaved aggressively’.
The council later said it had cancelled the fine and was ‘reviewing our advice on the disposal of liquids in a public place’.
Ms Yesilyurt told the BBC: ‘I noticed my bus was approaching, so I just poured the leftover bit. It wasn’t much, it was just a tiny little bit.
‘As soon as I turned around, I noticed three men, enforcement officers, chasing me, and they stopped me immediately.’
She claimed she was not aware that pouring liquid down a drain was against the law when she did so on October 10.
It is an offence under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to dispose of waste ‘in a manner likely to pollute water or land’. Tipping liquids into street drains falls under this rule.
