WHEN Kathy Fenton left a small carrier bag of rubbish next to her full slim bin, she hoped it would be taken by refuse collectors on bin day. She certainly didn’t expect to face the threat of legal action.

But two days later a council officer turned up at her doorstep to warn her about her actions — and personally deliver a legal notice warning any future breaches could result in 'legal action being considered'.

Mrs Fenton, who lives off Hospital Road in Bromley Cross, said: “He knocked on my door and said that there had been a report of flytipping.

“I really was expecting Jeremy Beadle to jump out from behind the back of my camper van.

“It was unbelievable.”

She said: “The bin men now have to report additional rubbish and an environmental officer has to come out.

“It wasn’t even a full bin bag it was a small carrier bag.”

Mrs Fenton, her two children and husband, are keen recyclers and she invited the officer in to see for himself the recycling done.

Mrs Fenton, who only had the extra rubbish because of her daughter’s birthday party that week,said: “We are really responsible about recycling.

“I did not put the carrier bag into the bin because the lid would not shut and the bin would not have been taken I think because it is too heavy and I didn’t want to do that and you can’t squash it in because of the way the bins are — some of the rubbish gets stuck and doesn’t come out.

She added: “I just thought they could have used a bit of common sense.They should be putting their energies in that not targeting people like this.

“ I did feel a bit victimised.

“I don’t know whether by doing this they can show they are tackling flytipping, I don’t want to be used as a statistics.

“I actually waited for the bin men to come to ask them if they could whizz it in but had to nip out and just missed them. I have a friend who has complained about people flytipping and nothing has been done

“We are fortunate to live in an area where there isn’t flying tipping and the community organise litter picks.

“As a community we work together.”

Others on social media said the action taken in this case was a waste of resources, while others said their extra rubbish had been collected.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “The council has a policy of not collecting extra bags next to bins, which is applied to all neighbourhoods across Bolton.

“This policy applies regardless of the size, quantity or appearance of the waste.

“We have found that the vast majority of residents respect and comply with this policy and do not put out extra bags with the bin. If a household does put out extra bags next to their bin, we issue them with a notice, reminding them not to do this in future. T

“This notice is not for flytipping, which is a separate offence, punishable by a fixed penalty fine or court action.”

What do you think? Write to Letters to the Editor, The Bolton News, The Wellsprings, Victoria Square, Bolton BL1 1AR.