Q We are a small business served with a notice from the council. The notice states that we have not complied with a previous notice ordering us to supply the council with waste transfer note documents. We didn't even receive the original notice. They are threatening us with court action if we don't pay their fixed penalty. They've said that we can chose not to pay and take our chances in the magistrate's court. We keep all our waste documents on site at all times - I explained that I would have easily handed them the documents and there would be no reason for me to ignore their original notice, but they still insist that I pay the £300 penalty. Can the council do this? This is a licence to print money. A My advice is to pay the penalty without delay. If you take the matter to the magistrate's court, you risk a larger fine being imposed and the possibility of having to pay the council's legal costs, were you to lose your case. The council has the legal authority to issue notices requesting waste transfer notes and to impose fixed penalties for non-compliance with that notice.
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