We’ve been fined £1,200 for a waste mistake that is NOT our fault – now we can’t afford Christmas presents for our daughter

A COUPLE have been fined £1,200 by the council for tipping one of their bin bags after one of their bin bags was stolen and torn open.

Abigail Swinn, 24, and partner Travis Raggo, 25, were shocked when the Boston Borough Council showed up on their doorstep demanding they pay for something they didn’t do.

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Childcare worker Abigail said: ‘It’s ridiculous to think we would fly outside our own tip At home when it was bin day.

‘I have no idea how the garbage bag got torn open.

“At first I thought it could be a fox, but there was no food in the bag.”

The pair had left two bags outside their Boston home, Lincs, full of second-hand clothing and household waste.

Unbeknownst to them, the thieves had taken one of the bags to steal the old clothes and dumped the rubbish on the street.

The bag was torn open and the rubbish was left sprawled on the road, 10 meters away from where the couple had originally placed it.

A few days after the thieves rummaged through garbage bags, the council went to the house and accused Abigail and Travis of fly tipping.

They were each fined £600 after a discarded letter traced the waste to their address.

Abigail, who is that? mom of three-year-old daughter Lexi, now worries the family won’t be able to afford Christmas.

The couple was renovating their bedroom and filled eleven garbage bags in the process.

After taking as many as possible directly to the dump by car themselves, they decided to leave two ready for Wednesday’s collection on Monday, October 28.

To their horror, they were subsequently fined and even shamed social media.

The municipality posted a photo of one of the garbage bags on Facebook to deter others.

Abigail added: “I looked on Facebook and apparently the day before there was a man pictured stealing someone else’s bin bags.

“I’ve heard of other incidents of people’s trash bags being stolen for any clothing they contained.”

She then reported the incident to Lincolnshire Police, who confirmed a report of anti-social behaviour.

Now Abigail is afraid the couple will have to pay if they lose the prize court if they were to risk £50,000.

She said: “We can’t take the risk, we don’t want a criminal conviction.”

Tipping is a crime that the Boston Borough Council wants to crack down on, and the organization has issued 237 tipping notices in one year.

It has warned that anyone caught tipping off could be fined up to £1,000.

The Sun has contacted the Boston Borough Council for comment.

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