I'm often banging on about litter louts and my despair that so many manage to get away with blighting our environment, but sometimes - admittedly rarely - I'm on the side of the litterbug. I came across a report on the BBC website a couple of days back, (I’ve not checked it out but will assume that it’s authentic!) that had me shaking my head in disbelief.

A Feltham, London resident is being fined £1,000 by Hounslow Council for ‘fly-tipping’ an envelope outside her flat. The 26-year-old woman said that the bins she shares with some 25 other properties were full, so she placed the cardboard envelope on top of cardboard next to them – a completely logical and responsible action in my view.

The Council thinks differently, but while its argument that fly tipping is “leaving waste anywhere in public apart from in a bin - regardless of whether bins are full” adheres to the letter of the law, its stance is taking things too far. The young woman - a single parent and a mental health nurse, is clearly not the type councils should be punishing, and while they go after easy targets, they’re not dealing with the real problem, are they?

I’m disgusted that they’ve not backed down...