A fine mess he got himself into.
One man is speaking out after a stolen Amazon package nearly landed him in court.
Matthew Edwardes spent months fighting his “unfair” local government after the pea-brained powers-that-be fined him — even threatening legal action — for allegedly discarding the box for a new television set he never received.
The trouble began when the 44-year-old online shopper ordered an Echo Show 15 full HD smart display, with Alexa and Fire TV, South West News Service reported.
After the $265 set never showed, Edwardes was shocked to receive a letter in the mail from his town council, claiming that he had been seen “depositing litter” on the grounds of the local school, a mile from his home in Dartford, England.
“I couldn’t believe it when it dropped through my door,” he said. “They sent me a picture of the box but not of me dumping it.
The council expected to be paid a fine of $94.
If Edwardes refused, the notice said, they would take him to court, where he could wind up slapped with a whopping $3,122 bill if found guilty.
“There was no way I was going to pay it but I couldn’t get through to anyone to appeal,” the frustrated dad of three recounted.
Thus began a months-long effort on Edwardes’ part to clear his name — a process that involved spending hours on the telephone, as well as unearthing footage showing him parking at his office at the same time the alleged littering took place.
The frustrated local business owner, whose only other scuffle with the law was a speeding ticket in the 2000s, he said, was reportedly met with dead ends at every turn, to the point where he eventually stopped trying to resolve the issue.
When an ominous final warning threatening to haul him into court appeared underneath his door, he called the local media — within 24 hours, an email appeared in his inbox, telling him the fine had been rescinded.
When asked, Amazon said they were “looking into this” with their third-party delivery service.
Edwardes was surprised when he learned that the local town hall wasn’t even the one issuing the fines — but rather an outside company, called Kingdom.
“We will always look into any instances where people say they have been unfairly fined,” a Kingdom spokesperson said after the fact.
The incident caused him a great deal of stress, Edwardes told a reporter.
He also noted that he was sorry for people who don’t dare fight back in situations like this, instead just paying the fine to make it go away.
“It’s so unfair,” he said.
