A MAN was taken to court for ‘dumping rubbish’ after his bin was knocked over, causing several bags to fall out.

But magistrates found Gary Rostron not guilty and now the Mill Hill resident has slammed Blackburn with Darwen Council for ‘wasting’ taxpayers’ cash in pursuing the prosecution.

Council bosses insisted such prosecutions were a ‘last resort’ and that they had to let ‘evidence be tested in court’.

Mr Rostron's bin was knocked over after he left it out for collection in March, leaving rubbish strewn across an alleyway behind his Moorgate Street home in Blackburn.

The council accused him of 'incorrectly placing his rubbish bags beside his collecting receptacle' and issued him with a £60 fixed penalty notice.

The 34-year-old refused to accept the punishment and the matter ended up in court.

And Blackburn magistrates accepted he was telling the truth and found him not guilty of breaching section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act.

Mr Rostron, a care worker, said: "The council told me they had evidence I had dumped the rubbish because there were three envelopes with my name and address on them in the bags found in the alley way.

“Of course there was: it was my rubbish.

“But I had put the bags in the bin and left them out for the binmen. They must have been knocked or pushed over after that.”

He added: "This is penalising people who go out to work and who cannot put their bins out minutes before the binmen come, or bring them back in the moment they are emptied.

"I was not willing to have a criminal record because of something I did not do, which is why I fought it. The whole thing must have wasted thousands of pounds of tax payers money, which would be better spent on cleaning up the streets."

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the campaigning group the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “This court case should never have been brought in the first place and taxpayers have been landed with a totally unnecessary bill.

“People don’t pay their council tax for the council to squander it on overzealous prosecutions.”

The borough’s Labour leader Kate Hollern said: “I think that people dumping rubbsih should be taken to court but I do have sympathy with this gentleman because I have had a number of complaints about bins not being collected and then getting knocked over. What are residents supposed to do?"

Coun Alan Cottam, executive member for regeneration and environment for the council, said ‘no-one would be convicted of anything if we dropped causes when people said they were innocent’.

He added: “Evidence has to be tested in court and it is then up to the magistrates then to decide."