A SINGLE mother fined £500 for fly-tipping after leaving an Ikea cabinet outside her home for people to take for free is celebrating a last-minute reprieve.

Isabelle Pepin lost her appeal over the fine and was preparing to fight her local council in court for the unfair treatment.

But she has now received a letter stating the council will not take the case to formal prosecution and no further action is required by the 42-year-old mum.

The decision has been made because the council is currently reviewing its policy on fly-tipping and expects the Cabinet to make a decision in the new year.

She said the battle had been stressful but was glad she stood her ground and refused to pay the fine, which she felt was completely unjust.

Miss Pepin got in trouble when she left an Ikea Trofast cabinet outside her house in Bournemouth, along with a chest of drawers and a paper sign stating they were free.

The chest of drawers was quickly claimed by someone, but the cabinet had not been taken after four days.

She was stunned when a council official then knocked on her door and told her she was being fined for fly-tipping.

Miss Pepin appealed the fine and tried to explain she had no intention of fly-tipping but was simply trying to do her bit for the environment and keep the cabinet out of landfill.

She said she had been recycling items in this way for 12 years without any problems before and had no idea it was not allowed.

She criticised BCP Council, who declared a climate emergency in 2019, for targeting homeowners instead of catching real fly-tippers who anonymously dump waste in country lanes.

The council rejected her appeal, despite acknowledging that she had not intended to fly-tip but said the fine was upheld because the cabinet was there for four days.

David Sidwick, Dorset's police and crime commissioner, also waded into the argument stating he agreed with the council that it was illegal and there should be a lack of tolerance for "micro-tipping", and dumping small amounts of rubbish.

But the letter Miss Pepin has now received from the council said: "The council are currently reviewing the policy on flytipping enforcement with a view to a cabinet decision in the new year.

"As such, no further action is required by you at this time and the council will not be entering the case to court for formal prosecution at this time."

Miss Pepin said: "I didn't realise how much tension this had been causing me, but I am pleased I held my ground and refused to pay.

"My son is pleased his mum isn't a criminal and I will continue to advocate for recycling and generally being a bit difficult and outspoken in the face of policies that I don't think are beneficial.

"The intention for me was never to put it out there as waste. If it wasn't going to be taken I would have disposed of it. I wouldn't have left it out more than a week and I did end up taking it to the dump myself.

"It was still useful and had life left in it. Someone could have used it in a kid's room or in a garage for tools. If you have the opportunity to reuse something I think you should.

"I think it's easy pickings for the council targeting people putting something outside their house, rather than actually finding the people who are fly tipping and dumping old mattresses and things down country lanes."