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.

It’s ridiculous. If I made a mistake like this and knew it was distressing people, I’d sort it as quickly as possible. I’d investigate and resolve it. But apparently it’s perfectly acceptable to worry people despite evidence that they have done nothing wrong.

I know it's Reddit, but there's some advice here

https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1sn36i4/letter_inviting_me_to_council_interview_under/?solution=45cdd72349faae3145cdd72349faae31&js_challenge=1&jsc_token=2824be10929bdc604753c70a67a1c33176f92119a776c6cbe3068c16f057fef4&jsc_orig_r=

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain They've already sent evidence and been ignored. all they can do is keep sending the same information, that includes no AnthonyBelll here. Council would have to prove there was,

There isn’t even an Anthony Bell on the electoral register for my house.

Here’s their evidence

That’s exactly as I see it.

That's why I suggested that OP escalates it to council leader and legal dept; because council will expect that a letter to a fly tipper will result in a 'not known at this address' reply. Unfortunately OP has to prove why she hasn't been the flytipper (wrong name, holiday in the US) because council already thinks they have proved that she has.

It's the same tactics as debt collectors. They get vaguely the right name and vaguely the right address and send letters out. Looks like council has gone for the wrong Anthony Bell and ignored what OP has sent.

There’s also pictures of a van and a man ing with bags of rubbish. A lot of bags.

I have put together an email. I’m going to have my husband check it and then send it tonight. Thanks for the suggestion.

Citizens advice ? They are very good . Email to your local MP ?

Standard bloody stupid council. How they can use that label as actual evidence beats me. Pity they don't have the registration,

Good luck, OP. It sounds like you've hit a particularly dim seam of local bureaucracy.

Do you have trouble empathising with other people or understanding that other people don’t react to things in the exact same way you do?

I wouldn’t have gone into the detail re. being a teacher, being on holiday.

I would simply say the is no Anthony Bell known at the address and that any further correspondence addressed to Anthony bell will be returned unopened.

Bloody hell, any of us could fall victim this shite.

I recommend everyone ensures any piece of paper with your name and address on it gets shredded or even better, burned.

I don’t even think they have that. I think they have a suspect Anthony Bell…and they’ve done a search and found our address for Mark Anthony Bell.

This is why I never ever put anything with my address on in the rubbish. One, you never know who is going to get hold of it. Two, we regularly have to pick up after the rubbish men have been and any one could pick up an envelope or an Amazon box and accuse us of littering/flytipping.

That's what I think as well.

It could well be that they've sent letters to everyone in the area with a variation on the name Anthony Bell including your DH because his name is similar.

They'll see what comes back and carry on investigating. Your DH can be struck off the list as he can prove he was out of the country when the offence took place.

The process to check and confirm that what you have told them is likely to be true takes time.

You’ve done the right thing so far, OP. It doesn’t surprise me that a week on it hasn’t formally been resolved, it will have to get to the right person and up their to do list to review. There has evidently been a logic leap / fail along the line and I would try not to stress if possible as it will get resolved, even if it takes a week or two.

I agree with the suggestion to contact your local councillors if possible - there are websites that help you identify them and their contact details. It will definitely vary from one councillor and council to another but my experience is councillors quite enjoy putting rockets up the arse of council teams when it’s an easy win for them.

The fly tipping offence was committed in a street a few miles away, where I have never set foot. It’s not like it was my street, where a letter could have accidentally blown into it. The bags and rubbish is unrecognisable to me, just like the area.

Look up your local councillor. Some of them are actually useful. Look up the name of the council's legal department head. Send a letter/ email with the information you have already given, copy it to their legal department and your local councillor. State that you believe their conduct now amounts to harassment as defined in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 since you have provided them with evidence that you did not commit the crime they are investigating.

If they are anything like my council, someone's not even looked at the evidence yet. My lot have a remarkably relaxed attitude to getting things done.

I'd go hard on the distress this is causing you, OP.

Thanks all. I’ll keep you posted. The email has been written, I’ve got the email addresses of the people and departments ready to go. My husband said to give them until Monday evening and send it then, if this isn’t sorted by Monday daytime. He feels that’s fair as we would have given them 10 working days to respond to our evidence.