'Bin police' drop fly-tipping charges over mailing wrapper

MUM GETS APOLOGY AFTER BEING THREATENED WITH PROSECUTION

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE Countryside and Tourism Editor [e-mail]

A WASTE crime team has dropped fly-tipping charges against a Flintshire mum who put a plastic mailing bag in a public bin. Natasha Sheldon Lane was given the good news by an officer who shared a nifty tip for avoiding future prosecution.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Post, the 35-year-old mum of two was reduced to a nervous wreck after receiving a Flintshire Council letter accusing her of the "unlawful depositing of waste".

Natasha was caught out after collecting a parcel of Gymshark clothes from a collection locker at Flint’s Aldi store.

On the way home, she unwrapped the parcel to check its contents, posting its plastic wrapper into a black council bin in Duke Street. Later the same day, environmental crime officers checking the bin discovered the envelope with her address and concluded she had dumped household rubbish.

Asked to attend an “interview under caution”, she was warned she could face a fly-tipping fine exceeding £300. In the event, a council crime officer visited her Flint home in what was described as a “courtesy call”.

"My partner was very suspicious,” said Natasha, a full-time carer for her youngest child, who has additional needs,