By Margaret Crosby

Last updated 16:24, Thursday, 24 April 2008

MEMBERS of Copeland Council, which took a Cumbrian man to court for overfilling his wheelie bin, have offered to help pay his fine.

How the National press handled the wheelie bin fine.

Gareth Corkhill, 26, of Whitehaven, was prosecuted by Copeland Council after he refused to pay an on-the-spot fine for overfilling his bin by four inches.

The Rev John Bannister, rector of Whitehaven, criticised Copeland Council and appealed for help to pay the £225 fine and costs. He said he had already collected three times the required amount including some from councillors.

Mr Corkhill, a father-of-four, said the authority recently switched from weekly to fortnightly refuse collections and that the supplied bins were not big enough to cope. 

The prosecution, the first of its kind by Copeland Council, first reported in The Whitehaven News last week, has made national TV and newspaper headlines, and, maintains Mr Bannister, “reflects negatively on the high-handed and patronising manner in which the council, and in particular certain elected members and senior officers involved in this wider issue, have acted.

“Surely Copeland’s first duty is to respond to Mr Corkhill’s problems in managing the disposal of his household rubbish, within the restrictions of the council’s own inadequate service, in other words, to look at their own deficiencies before condemning the good name of those they are paid and elected to serve.’’

Mr Corkhill had not been in court to hear JPs fine him £110 and impose a further £100 costs and a £15 government surcharge, when the case was ‘proved in absence’. He had been charged with overfilling his wheelie bin; enforcement officers had taken photographs in January of the bin with its lid raised. Mr Corkhill, who had been warned on a previous occasion, was offered the chance to pay a fixed penalty of £110 rather than be taken to court. He agreed at the time but the penalty was not paid.

Mr Corkhill said he had been shocked by the fine: “My bin lid was only open four inches. I couldn’t believe they would do that. I don’t leave the rubbish on the floor. Every fortnight you can guarantee other people’s bins will be more open than mine. I have my rubbish collected every fortnight. There are five people in my family, three children, me and my wife. Plus I have my daughter over on weekends.

“We recycle everything we can, including plastics, cardboard, tins, glass and paper. We have got a black box that is always full.

“It’s only an £80 fine for flytipping. I would have been better off doing that.”

Mr Bannister is sympathetic and “in order to show solidarity and compassion with the sad state Mr Corkhill has found himself in, I am seeking donations from the community to re-to imburse Mr Corkhill and his young family.

“Hopefully, the community of Whitehaven, which is not known for cowering to this sort of bullying, can demonstrate its feelings of disgust by this small but supportive action.

“Sadly, what we cannot do, as a community, is to right the injustice done to Mr Corkhill by Copeland Council, in making him a criminal by their actions.

“To deal with this borough-wide problem by scape-goating Mr Corkhill and damaging his life with a criminal record, is irresponsible on the part of Copeland Borough Council,

“I would be pleased to hear from anyone who would like to make a donation to this cause.’’ (Contact number 01946 693474)