Advice on a FPN for littering

Littlebit14 · 13 July 2016 at 12:32PM

Hi, I'm trying to get advice on behalf of a friend of mine who was issued with a fixed penalty notice for littering yesterday. Basically she was feeding pigeons in a town centre in order to try and get a better look at a couple that were obviously wounded (she runs an animal rescue that deals with small pets and wildlife). She didn't see until after she was issued the penalty notice that there are some signs saying don't feed the birds so she had no idea she was doing anything wrong. There was a man watching her at the time but he didn't approach, speak to her, ask her to stop what she was doing or anything until she made to leave at which point he issued her the notice. It states she 'did purposely litter food on to the ground and walked away leaving it on the pavement' - well food in question was wild bird seed and she left when it had all been eaten!

The notice says she needs to pay £80 within 14 days or the fine goes up to £2500, what I'm trying to help with is finding out where she stands on contesting this as the only advice we can find online relates to parking. Thanks for reading.

electic · 13 July 2016 at 1:00PM

As far as I can tell, the power to issue a FPN for littering comes from this legislation: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/section/87

As you can see, the definition of littering includes depositing any litter 'and leav[ing] it' (slightly different wording for Scotland, but substantially the same I think). If all the bird seed had been eaten, I think you should be able to appeal on the grounds that there had been no littering within the definition of section 87 Environmental Protection Act 1990.

In my view, even if not all the bird seed had been eaten, a common sense approach should be taken, and that shouldn't be considered littering. However, this argument might be a bit trickier. Could be worth arguing anyway, since the council might believe there was still some bird seed on the ground.

Littlebit14 · 13 July 2016 at 1:17PM

Thank you very much for replying. I've also found this...

http://www.cleanhighways.co.uk/legislation/guidance-on-the-use-of-fixed-penalty-notices

which states 'Small littering offences such as a dropped crisp or bread dropped while feeding ducks are best ignored as pursuing them might bring the process into disrepute.'

so I'm thinking even if there was any seed left there really was no need for the notice in this case, seems heavy handed when she could have just been asked to stop! Thanks again.

Sooler · 13 July 2016 at 3:57PM

Many stories of people receiving fines in various towns , but Dover Council say it's OK

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=bird%20food%20littering

sjbrun · 13 July 2016 at 4:47PM

It's very different to feeding ducks in a park to feeding pigeons in a town centre. A lot call pigeons the rats of the sky and with food shops in every town centre I wouldn't like someone feeding them to enchourage them.

foxtrotoscar_2 · 13 July 2016 at 5:16PM

sjbrun wrote: »

It's very different to feeding ducks in a park to feeding pigeons in a town centre. A lot call pigeons the rats of the sky and with food shops in every town centre I wouldn't like someone feeding them to enchourage them.

I don't care that this is a typo. ....but I so want it to be a real word!

Littlebit14 · 13 July 2016 at 5:34PM

I was aware the 'vermin' issue would arise not meaning to sound defensive because it's a genuine question but would it make a difference if it had been doves/sparrows/robins she'd been feeding? The thing I want to establish is whether feeding birds is littering as that's what the fine is for.

(gotta admit the rats of the sky thing always makes me smile though, kept rats for years, love the things lol!)

foxtrotoscar_2 · 13 July 2016 at 5:55PM

Littlebit14 wrote: »

I was aware the 'vermin' issue would arise not meaning to sound defensive because it's a genuine question but would it make a difference if it had been doves/sparrows/robins she'd been feeding? The thing I want to establish is whether feeding birds is littering as that's what the fine is for.

(gotta admit the rats of the sky thing always makes me smile though, kept rats for years, love the things lol!)

Doves/sparrows/robins don't tend to be a problem in cities. Pigeons however are...cleaning up after them costs Councils a fortune. The signs were there for a reason and ignored/missed.

bod1467 · 13 July 2016 at 6:10PM

There's often a way to successfully appeal FPNs ... Pepipoo might be able to help.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=5

Littlebit14 · 13 July 2016 at 10:27PM

Thanks for all the replies, will be passing everything on.

Littlebit14 · 14 July 2016 at 11:00AM

foxtrotoscar wrote: »

Doves/sparrows/robins don't tend to be a problem in cities. Pigeons however are...cleaning up after them costs Councils a fortune. The signs were there for a reason and ignored/missed.

Ok fair enough. I believe my friend when she said she didn't see the signs but either way I have some in my town centre (I don't live near said friend) and all they say is 'don't feed the birds' not 'it's a criminal offence to feed the birds' (presumably because its not else they'd have done her for that and not littering!) or 'feeding the birds constitutes a littering offence which is fineable up to £2500' or something along those lines. The cynic in me suspects this is because then people would actually pay attention to them and they'd lose their revenue, but maybe that's just me!!

Advice on a FPN for littering

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free