THREE residents received court charges of nearly £3,000 — after leaving rubbish piled up in their own street.

One of the trio claimed binmen had “let him down” while another denied that the rubbish even belonged to her.

All three refused to pay an on-the-spot £50 fine — but instead ended up owing much more in court costs.

After the cases, Cllr Nick Peel, executive cabinet member for the environ-ment, said all tippers would be prosecuted if they refused to pay penalty notices.

Cllr Peel said: “All of them could have paid the fixed penalty notice of £50 if they had paid it within 10 days. Why they did not pay it I don’t know. If you are caught leaving rubbish in back streets you will be prosecuted.”

Antal Nikolics, aged 26, had left bags of rubbish outside his Melbourne Road home in Deane and said binmen had “let him down”.

He refused to move the bags and was hit with a court bill of £1,112.

Vlasta Rafaelova, aged 18, dumped bin bags, a car seat and a child’s booster seat in the back street of Lawn Street, Halliwell, and some in her yard.

She denied to officers through an interpreter that the waste even belonged to her. Officers found letters addressed to her in the waste and she paid £960 in court costs.

Lauren Close, aged 26, admitted leaving four bin bags at the back of her Thorpe Street home in Halliwell, but failed to pay the fixed penalty notice.

She now faces a £863 court bill. None of the three defendants appeared in court and were found guilty in their absence. Last week, drivers in Back Green Lane, Great Lever, were left trapped in their homes after tippers dumped rubbish at the end of their road.

Yesterday, The Bolton News reported the case of Niklas Kotlar, who was fined £600 for spitting chewing gum on to the pavement outside Bolton College.