A Lithuanian father has been hit with a £1,000 penalty by Hounslow Council after disposing of an empty envelope in a street bin, in what he describes as an attempt to do the right thing.
Nidas Ratkevicius, an estate manager who has lived in Britain since 2002, expressed disbelief upon receiving the fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping.
The council has since frozen the fine, citing inconclusive evidence and the fact that Mr Ratkevicius has not admitted to the alleged offence.
"I thought it was a joke... I opened the letter and couldn't believe it. For an envelope? I was shocked," he told LBC. "For £10, okay... but £1,000? It's too much. It's not fair."
The authority has now invited him to attend an interview under caution.
Mr Ratkevicius, who regularly drives to Hounslow West underground station before commuting into central London, recounted that he had been carrying a brown A5 envelope from a delivery when he spotted an open wheelie bin on the street.
"I was walking by and maybe I just put the envelope inside, I never thought it was some kind of issue," he told The Sun.
The father described the scene as chaotic, with bins "fully covered under a pile of rubbish" and surrounded by discarded mattresses and chairs, with no warning signs visible.
A Lithuanian father has been hit with a £1,000 penalty by Hounslow Council after allegedly disposing of an empty envelope in a street bin, in what he describes as an attempt to do the right thing
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"It's like taking bread from my family. £1,000 is not small money. For me, it's huge," he said.
He initially paid the penalty to avoid court proceedings but has since challenged the decision.
Hounslow Council defended its approach in a statement, explaining that an addressed envelope bearing Mr Ratkevicius's details was discovered at a known fly-tipping hotspot within the borough.
"Because Mr Ratkevicius has not admitted to the offence, and early evidence in this case remains inconclusive, we have put the FPN on hold while we investigate further," a spokesman said.
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The council confirmed it would review CCTV footage from the area as part of its investigation.
Labour councillor Pritam Grewal, who oversees the authority's enforcement strategy, emphasised the council's "zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping".
The borough recorded 27,000 fly-tipping incidents over twelve months, ranking fifth highest in London, with cleanup costs reaching approximately £4million annually.
Between April and December 2025, the council issued 1,842 fines at the maximum £1,000 level.
Mr Ratkevicius's case follows a strikingly similar incident involving NHS mental health nurse Loretta Alvarez, who also received an £1,000 penalty in November.
Ms Alvarez, a single mother based in Feltham, was tracked down after placing a cardboard envelope atop a pile of rubbish beside overflowing communal bins serving her block of 35 flats.
Despite an online petition garnering more than 2,200 signatures calling for the fine's cancellation, the council refused to withdraw it in December.
Councillor Grewal stated at the time that the authority was confident it had done the "right thing" in issuing the maximum penalty.
During the same October to December period, the council-owned Lampton Recycle 360 missed 2,080 household waste collections, with 1,253 of those occurring in December alone.