A bungle by an outgoing council contractor has led to shocked residents being told to pay fly-tipping fines or risk being taken to court – months after their penalties were cancelled.

Private firm NSL said “human error” had led to letters being sent out warning people they could face “unlimited” fines or up to five years’ in prison if they did not pay previously-issued fixed penalty notices (FPNs).

This was despite the fact that, in some cases, the FPNs had been cancelled and the residents had been told they did not need to pay.

Gabriel Webber, who lives on Golders Green Road, was astonished to receive a ‘final warning’ letter from NSL six months after his penalty was cancelled.

He was given a £400 FPN for fly-tipping in September last year – despite following the council’s guidelines on how to dispose of waste.

Mr Webber, who lives in a flat above a shop and does not have access to a wheelie bin, was given special sacks by the council and told to leave them by litter bins in the street – but received an FPN for doing so.

He appealed against it with the help of Cllr Anne Clarke, Labour member for Childs Hill, and received written confirmation that it had been dropped and he would face no further fines.

Mr Webber received a ‘final warning’ letter threatening him with prosecution a few weeks after the FPN was cancelled, but the council confirmed it would not be acted upon after Cllr Clarke intervened again.

But on April 26 – more than six months after the original FPN was cancelled – he was sent yet another ‘final warning’ letter threatening him with legal action that could lead to an unlimited fine or up to five years in prison.

Mr Webber said: “If you cancel one FPN, there is a lot of computerisation, and you might be expecting to get demands a week after it was cancelled due to an error.

“But you would have to be quite staggeringly incompetent to be sending them out this late in the day.”

Cllr Clarke said: “It took a week, several phone calls and intervention from a senior officer to get (Mr Webber’s) fine repealed.

“He has now received two subsequent letters threatening him with an unlimited fine and even a prison sentence.

“This is simply bullying and intimidation. I hope no innocent people have paid these fines out of fear.”

Cllr Sara Conway, Labour community leadership lead, added: “We’ve seen two very similar cases where an agreement to waive a fine has not been honoured.

“I’m concerned these may not be isolated cases and there is a wider problem for residents across our borough.

“I have asked the council to investigate and I hope that this matter is now speedily resolved for all residents affected to minimise further upset.”

It is not the first time the council’s contract with NSL has come under scrutiny.

In September last year, councillors warned members of the public were being

slapped with fines after leaving items such as cardboard boxes next to their blue bins

due to a lack of space.

And in October, small business owners in Finchley and Chipping Barnet

accused NSL of unfairly targeting them

after being hit with £400 fines for alleged fly-tipping.

The council confirmed its contract with NSL ended on January 31.

A spokesperson for NSL said: “As part of NSL’s exit from delivering environmental enforcement services for Barnet Council, reminder letters were sent to certain people.

“A human error meant that some people whose FPNs had been cancelled were sent reminder letters by accident.

“As no money was owed by them, NSL could not have collected any payment on these cases. We apologise to the individuals concerned.”

A council spokesperson said: “Our contract with NSL ended on Thursday, January 31, 2019. We are pleased to have previously helped get Mr Webber’s fine dismissed.

“We are also pleased to hear that the subsequent reminder letters issued in error have now been rescinded by NSL.”