A Battersea woman scored a legal victory against Wandsworth Council when magistrates found her not guilty of breaking the terms of her skip licence and questioned the council's "strange" decision to prosecute her.

The council took Annabelle Lees, 29, of Orbel Street, to court after a highways enforcement officer noticed a skip she had hired was unlit on the night of November 27.

Under the 1980 Highways Act, anyone hiring a skip must ensure a light is attached to it and switched on every night to ensure it is visible to cars and pedestrians.

But Ms Lees, representing herself, told South Western Magistrates' Court last Thursday she had entrusted this duty to her builders since she was not living in Orbel Street at the time.

She said: "I was having work done on my property and it was my builders' responsibility to oversee the skip.

"They know the drill."

She said the builders had been carrying out their duties correctly - covering the skip with a tarpaulin each night and ensuring it was lit during hours of darkness.

But when the highways officer spotted her skip was unlit, it appeared someone had stolen the light from it.

The officer had to attach a light to it himself, for which Ms Lees was later asked to foot the bill.

She said her neighbour told her since that she had been awoken the previous night by the thieves.

Ms Lees, a senior account manager at Sky TV's National Geographic Channel, said: "Anyone who walks by your skip can potentially steal the light. I'm not sure how, as the licensee, you're meant to stop this happening, short of sitting by your skip 24 hours a day.

"No skip company will rent out a skip with a light attached because the lights get stolen so often."

When the council informed her the light was missing, she had the skip removed.

Three magistrates, Mark Bunyan, Martin Fuller and Tony Speller, found in Ms Lees' favour and expressed surprise the council had prosecuted her in the first place.

Mr Bunyan told her: "We feel you acted with all due diligence. You handed control of the skip to your builders as anyone in similar circumstances would do.

"We were impressed that when you were told of the offence you acted straight away to have the skip removed.

"We do find it strange Wandsworth had to come to court to get such a common sense decision."