London, Apr 22: All he did was overfilling his bin, and now Brit Gareth Wilson-Corkhill has been fined with a 225 pounds bills and been branded a criminal.

Wilson-Corkhill, of Whitehaven, Cumbria, was initially given a written warning by officers from Copelandborough council. But when he re-offended six months later, they fined him 110 pounds.

When Wilson-Corkhill refused to pay, he was taken to court where magistrates found him guilty of failing to comply with the Environmental Protection Act.

They ordered him to pay a 15 pounds surcharge and 100 pounds prosecution costs.

The 26-year-old claims that the bin was overfilled by four inches, although the council says it was "more like six".

"I'm more annoyed now that I know I've got a criminal conviction. I might go for a job interview and be better than someone else, but the employer will see that I'm officially a criminal," the Telegraph quoted Wilson-Corkhill, as saying.

"If I'd just gone and thrown all the rubbish over a field I'd have got an£80 fine. It's laughable.

"We recycle everything we can, including plastics, cardboard, tins, glass and paper," he added.

A spokesman for Copeland council said Wilson-Corkhill had been issued with an extra-large bin.

"What we have to get across to people is that central government is asking us to reach strict targets on recycling. If we don't achieve them, we will be heavily fined," the rep said.

ANI