Fly tipping false allegation

[AmericanPaint]

So last week we get a ‘notice to suspect to interview under caution’. I was shocked to see this letter and it took me a minute to work out that it’s was regarding fly tipping. A letter had come to my house basically saying the council had evidence that we were responsible for fly tipping. There were photos of the bags and card and furniture. There was a close up of an Amazon envelope with the name and address redacted. There was a photo of a van with the name on the side redacted and a man stood in front of it dumping waste.

I then noticed that the name the notice was addressed to was (I’ll make names up but keep it along the lines of) Anthony Bell.

Now only myself, my husband and our son live at our address. I am Shirley Bell. My husband is Mark Bell and my son Michael Bell. (Obviously names changed but this is the gist of it). Interesting my husbands middle name is Anthony, but he uses Mark.

Then I clocked the date of the offence. 18th August. Well that was a relief because we’d been in Florida for 4 weeks by that date and didn’t return until 22nd August.

I was pretty cross. I emailed the waste enforcement team with our e-ticket along with time stamped photos of us in Florida and also raised the name discrepancy. I genuinely thought that would be the end of it.

A week later and nothing. I called for an update and was told by the call centre that they are still investigating? This has been extremely distressing.

A form came with the notice for the recipient to complete but the questions are ‘why did you leave waste at the location?’ Etc. Plus, none of us are Anthony Bell, so why would we complete another persons interview form?

I really don’t know what to do and don’t want to pay for legal advice because I feel we’re paying for something we shouldn’t need.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Just reply and say not known at this address

Local councillor, attach everything, point out this isn't you and why are you being harassed when you've submitted evidence to that effect?

And cc in the dept chasing you. Put a read notification on it, as well.

Check any insurance policies for legal advice lines or whether you have legal cover. You shouldnt have opened the letter if it was addressed to Anthony Bell. If it was just sent to your address then put a letter in with your reply - which should say not applicable, no Anthony Bell here.

EMAIL local councillor, I meant. Contact the council and the councillor on X as well saying the same.

I already sent an email. This is what it said:

To whom it may concern,
My name is Mark Anthony Bell.
I arrived home from working as a teacher to find a letter that suggested I was responsible for offences of fly-tipping.

I am writing to inform you that I believe you have matched the name of "Mr. Anthony Bell" to my address at ‘made up road’ in error. To reiterate, my full legal name is Mr. Mark Anthony Bell, though I normally go by Mark Bell (the full name appears on my passport and the electoral roll). There is no person with the first name Anthony and last name Bell living at my address.

Additionally, on the date of the alleged offence (18/08/2026), my wife and I were enjoying our summer vacation in Florida and had been there for over four weeks by that date. I have attached our e-ticket receipt and travel confirmation as concrete evidence of our absence from the country.

Arriving home from work today, to an interview under caution notice has been incredibly stressful and distressing. Given that this is a clear case of mistaken identity, or a simple data matching error, I would deeply appreciate it if you could look into this and resolve it as a matter of urgency.
Yours faithfully,

I've never had a letter about an interview but My late DH and I have both received letters, on the same day, from our local council with fines for dropping litter outside our property. I knew we hadn't done it, but they had photos of litter in the gutter with our names on it. I wasn't going to give in that easily so I spent ages examining the photos. I managed to deduce what day it had happened (not the day the council stated) from road works items in the photos that had disappeared mid week. Fortunately we had cctv at the time that also captured part of the road. I reviewed loads of tape and eventually found what I needed - the council refuse collectors picking up our bins (while we were at a hospital appointment), lifting them into the lorry, dropping a load of the paper on the road and leaving it there. The photo of the 'evidence' was taken two minutes after we returned home. I emailed the council and explained what had really happened, told them I had cctv to back up my version and would happily see them in court. I honestly would have turned up to court with the footage too. I may also have mentioned that if they didn't cancel the fine immediately, I'd be posting about it all over social media. Took them a few weeks but they did write back to cancel the fines. No apology, just said that they were cancelling due to lack of evidence.

Youre in control here. You have solid proof that you weren't even in the country at the time, so hold your nerve and let them interview you if necessary. Have all your proof in a file ready to take with you.

I'm assuming your DH doesn't own a van like the one in the pic? Does he even look like the man in the photo (size/height wise)?

I didn’t notice the name at first. I just opened the mail as usual. I then panicked and showed my husband and he said ‘that’s for Anthony Bell’.

Sending the letter back 'not known at this address' is exactly what a fly tipper would do and the council knows it. Hence the escalation.

I'd get legal advice to stop it dragging on and on.

I think you can be charged if someone else dumps your rubbish so the date may not help.

No, it was a white van. Husband is a teacher. We own a silver Hyundai. The man in the picture is tall, very thin and very scruffy. My husband does not look like that.

It’s not even out rubbish. It’s loads of purple bags (which we don’t use) kids stuff (our son is 21) and boxes for new furniture and a bike which we don’t own. I’d happily let them check my house.

The address on the Amazon envelope has been blacked out. But if it was ours…wouldn’t they have addressed it to the correct name?

Thank you! How stressful and for nothing!

Definitely look up who your local councillor is (I.e the actual politician you vote in at local elections, not the council waste department) and send everything to them.

Have you ever had an Amazon envelope sent to your DH, mistakenly addressing him as Anthony Bell? As a pp above says, if it is your waste, you can still be charged for not using a licenced waste disposal company if the waste can be traced back to you.

Nope never. We’d been out of the country a month by the date of the offence as well, so not receiving Amazon parcels.

Showing them your house won't prove anything.

You need legal advice.

I don’t understand why you’re so cross, or finding it stressful and distressing, it wasn’t addressed to you or anyone in your family, none of you have received an interview letter, it’s a non issue for you and your family surely?

I don't know about your council, but fines in my borough are in the thousands for flytipping. OP had told the council it's not them, council has ignored their evidence. Council ATM issued a letter under caution, is prepared to find OP and family guilty of flytipping and fine them accordingly. Are you seriously suggesting that they should just shrug and ignore it?

Well because I assumed if I do nothing or just return the letter, they’d just escalate it their end?

I suffer with horrific anxiety and have just been put on fluoxetine and propranolol for panic attacks. I don’t need this.

Thank you. It’s very stressful,

Maybe they aren’t ignoring me and it takes over a week to get back to someone following presentation of evidence. I can’t speak to anyone in the department. I can only speak to call centre staff who look at a screen and tell me case still open and being investigated.

Oh no, I’d be terribly stressed if the council were accusing me and threatening me with a fine of thousands, of course, but the way I understood the OP was that the letter is addressed to somebody who is not a member of her family, so the threat is not to them.

In your place I'd send an email back as I suggested, briefly reiterating what you've already told them, (bullet points preferably) refusing the interview under caution as you have presented evidence as to why its not you and suggesting that they examine the evidence again PDQ. Emphasise the distress this is causing,

And that you WILL be taking legal advice about this accusation if it proceeds. CC it to everyone from the council leader down and the council legal dept if you can find the email, and mark it as urgent.

They've frightened and distressed you, match their energy

Council have been told that, it appears they're ignoring it.

Yes I will do this. They already do know how distressed this has made me. I emailed them last week Thursday and haven’t even got an acknowledgment…although call centre staff agreed they are aware of the situation.

I have to say every time I've had any interaction with my council they've been useless. The latest was sending me a letter at our address but the wrong flat number inviting me to register for a vote. I've been registered for 40 years at my address.

'Computer had a wobbly' or something was the excuse.