Second Hartlepool Resident Defeats Council Bin Fine in Court as Tribunal Bans HBC From the Proceedings...
- teessidetoday
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 13 hours ago
Second Hartlepool Resident wins bid to overturn a fine issued by Hartlepool Borough Council after Judge slams behaviour of the failing local authority....
6th June 2025
A second Hartlepool Resident has succeeded in their bid to overturn a fixed penalty notice issued by a failing local council after Judges formally sanctioned the councils partipation for failing to comply with court orders & banning Hartlepool Borough Council from the rest of the proceedings.
In a blistering Court ruling, judges sided decisively with Hartlepool resident Cheryl Wallbridge, allowing her appeal and withdrawing the fine imposed against her under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Hartlepool Borough Council was then formally restrained from participating in the appeal after reportedly failing to comply with tribunal directions— banning them from participation in any further proceedings, with the case marking the second known instance of a Hartlepool resident successfully challenging the dubious fines in just days, raising questions over how many more local residents could have been wrongly penalised or intimidated into paying.
The Council That Didn’t Bother to Show Up
In what can only be described as an act of procedural self-destruction, Hartlepool Borough Council reportedly failed to respond to tribunal directions when required and then failing to even turn up to defend the case.
Judge Wilson and Judge Dwyer, sitting on the case, made it crystal clear that the Tribunal had warned Hartlepool Borough Council that they would be barred from further involvement in the case under Rule 7(e) of the Tribunal Rules.
The Council ignored the judges warning—and was said to have been formally restained from any further involvement in the case going forward. The Tribunal, in the interests of justice,went ahead without them, where in doing so, they delivered a scathing judgment that demolished the Council’s basis for issuing the fine in the first place.
Wallbridge had lived in her home since 2016, and like many of her neighbours, stored her green and grey bins in a communal alleyway. This had never been a problem—until, without warning, fines began rolling in. She provided clear evidence, including a diagram of the alley and photos of her backyard, which she had renovated to make usable.
She convincingly argued that:
The alleyway, whilst technically a footpath, remained accessible to pedestrians.
There had never been an arson incident or waste blown into the street.
Neighbours also left bins in the alley without consequence—some with exemptions even granted by the Council.
The bins are only moved to the street on collection day; they are not collected from the alley.
The Tribunal accepted her testimony as credible and consistent—unlike the Council, which didn’t even bother to challenge her claims.
A Sanctioned Council and a Precedent-Setting Result
Perhaps most significant is the Tribunal’s conclusion that Hartlepool Borough Council failed to demonstrate that the bins caused a nuisance or were likely to be detrimental to the amenities of the area, as required under section 46A of the Environmental Protection Act.
Moreover, the Tribunal pointed to the inconsistency of enforcement: residents in one street were fined, yet others exempted, all whilst bins remained in the same shared alleyway. The entire policy looked not only to be arbitrary, but potentially discriminatory.
It follows an earlier case in which Joanne Liddle, another Hartlepool resident had her bin fine overturned—signalling what appears to be a systemic issue within the Council’s waste enforcement practices, raising questions once more over the apparent 'rudderless' leadership demonstarted by the councils top officer Denise McGuckin, not to mention questions over just what work the councils legal team are undertaking on a day to day basis ?
Hartlepool Borough Council’s refusal to engage with the judicial process is as telling as the Tribunal’s findings. Cheryl Wallbridge’s victory is more than just a personal vindication—it is a warning shot to the Council that the days of issuing blanket penalties without lawful justification is numbered.
