A couple were fined £300 after being wrongly accused of dropping orange peel in a supermarket car park. Anna and her husband Daniel, who didn’t want to give their surnames, had parked at a Lidl in Belvedere, southeast London, for their regular shopping trip on Wednesday, October 8.
They spotted the peelings on the ground near their car after parking, but didn’t think much of them and headed inside the store. When they returned to their car, Anna said two council enforcement officers confronted them, claiming they had been littering and would be fined.
Despite their protests, the couple were saddled with the £300 fine. Luckily, Anna and Daniel had a dashcam running inside their car which showed the orange peel was already on the ground when they arrived.
After appealing, Bexley Council confirmed the penalty would be cancelled. Anna described the whole process as “unjust”.
She said: “They insisted on seeing our driving licences and issued a £300 fine for littering, without any evidence.
“I understand if I was putting the rubbish on the floor, or if they were watching me drop the litter. But like I said, we saw this on the floor and were in a hurry. We weren’t going to pick up someone else’s rubbish.
“We were quite upset and sought assistance from the Lidl managers regarding any available car park cameras. Fortunately, we remembered that we had a car dash cam and returned home.”
A spokesperson for Bexley Council said the fine was cancelled after the local authority reviewed the issuing officer’s body-worn camera footage.
Anna said: “In my view, this was unjust, as there was no evidence of my littering, and I should not be held responsible for any existing rubbish near my car.
“Can you imagine next time I will go shopping and someone will leave the rubbish next to my car, and I will be responsible for it?
“They put us in so much stress – my husband had a chest pain at home and couldn’t believe someone can do this.”
