November 9, 2016 10.57 am This story is over 88 months old

Barton woman ordered to pay £1k for leaving rotten food and other waste outside home

A Barton woman has been slapped with a £1,000 fine after repeatedly ignoring requests to clear rotten food and household waste from outside her home. Sandra Riby, 48, breached council notices five times for causing a statutory nuisance to neighbours and other residents. She had first been served an abatement notice to clean up rubbish almost…
Scunthorpe Magistrates Court. Photo: Google Street View

A Barton woman has been slapped with a £1,000 fine after repeatedly ignoring requests to clear rotten food and household waste from outside her home.

Sandra Riby, 48, breached council notices five times for causing a statutory nuisance to neighbours and other residents.

She had first been served an abatement notice to clean up rubbish almost a year earlier in March 2015, which she complied with.

But in February this year, a North Lincolnshire Council environmental health officer visited the property again after receiving a complaint about the accumulation of waste.

The officer found a large amount of domestic waste and a pungent smell of rotten food.

Riby removed some of the waste.

Five more visits were made to the property in a bid to get the remaining rubbish removed and it was only on the sixth visit on April 22 that the officer noticed the waste had been removed.

Further complaints were made in August 2016 which prompted another visit, where the environmental health officer witnessed rotting food and black bags piled up with flies swarming over the rubbish.

The case was heard at Scunthorpe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, October 12, when the judge ordered Riby to pay £1,005.29 (£500 fine, £275.29 investigation costs, plus £230 other costs).

Councillor Neil Poole, cabinet member for Environment at North Lincolnshire Council, said: “The vast majority of residents do their best to keep the area clean and tidy and it is unfortunate that a small minority spoil it for others.”