Fixed Penalty Notice for Littering

naughtyjo

Hi I was hoping for some advice from those in the know.
My young son aged 13 dropped a sweet and has been given a £80 fixed penalty notice. I am not wanting to get into the rights and wrongs of littering he certainally didnt do it on purpose but a rather zealous warden decided he would do a FNP via post.
Anyway what I want to know is this
Does a child have to provide their Date of Birth to these officers? He gave them his name and address when asked
secondly can the child be frog marched into their school and the warden ask the school to verify his name and address. I questioned this was a breach of the Data Protection Act but they state he was obtaining the information due to a crime been committed. Even if this is correct surely he cant demand the info verbally he would have a procedure to follow?
Any advice would be appreciated thanks:j

goonarmy

I would have refused to go with the street warden. He is a nobody and therefore would have been treated as such. Get on to the council and see what they say.

goonarmy

Also if your son is liable for the fine how will he pay it considering he is too young to earn a wage.

Ectophile

goonarmy wrote: »

Also if your son is liable for the fine how will he pay it considering he is too young to earn a wage.

I'm sure they could find a place in a young offenders' institution if he (or more likely his family) refuse to pay up.

naughtyjo

they would have to take him to court and I would then be liable for the fine I am really annoyed that he has told my son its a crininal offence not to provide his details and then the school has confirmed the details to the warden which I think is wrong but the council say the school has to do it because he was investigating a crime !!! I think I will ring a solicitor because I am really peed off with this jobsworths behaviour

spacey2012

Teach the boy how to run.

imoneyop

naughtyjo wrote: »

secondly can the child be frog marched into their school

He should have started screaming that a !!!!!! was trying to abduct him - I doubt the little Hitler would have hung around.

sharnad

Some councils won't serve under -6 with a Fpn and there is no way to make kids pay them. What does it say on your local council website

mandragora_2

http://www.cleanhighways.co.uk/legislation/guidance-on-the-use-of-fixed-penalty-notices This may be helpful. It is worth noting that the opening statement is that 'To drop litter is a criminal offence'. It also says that the local authority should have a strategy in place within its procedures for dealing with under 18's.

The warden is a representative of the local authority engaged in dealing with a crime that has been committed, and I would imagine that most schools would co-operate with a request from the authorities in the process of investigating a criminal offence. The alternative would be to refuse to co-operate with the authorities in the investigation of a crime, and that would be highly unusual unless there was some sort of higher-consideration issue linked, perhaps to child protection. The guidance also specifically says that the officers should, where dealing with youngsters, use schools to verify offenders details, so it would seem that the warden has followed the procedures set out in the guidance.

There are some pretty stiff consequences too, for failing to deal with a fixed penalty notice, spelt out in the document - pay or challenge, presumably.

enkoda

naughtyjo wrote: »

secondly can the child be frog marched into their school and the warden ask the school to verify his name and address. I questioned this was a breach of the Data Protection Act but they state he was obtaining the information due to a crime been committed. Even if this is correct surely he cant demand the info verbally he would have a procedure to follow?
Any advice would be appreciated thanks:j

Irrespective of whether the littering was accidental or not, I would suggest that your son has been assaulted and would be reporting it to the police. He had no right to lay a finger on him, let alone frog march him to his school.
I would also send a recorded letter to the council demanding an apology from the warden in question and why he felt it necessary to intimidate, embarrass and assault a minor in public.

brendon

enkoda wrote: »

Irrespective of whether the littering was accidental or not, I would suggest that your son has been assaulted and would be reporting it to the police. He had no right to lay a finger on him, let alone frog march him to his school.
I would also send a recorded letter to the council demanding an apology from the warden in question and why he felt it necessary to intimidate, embarrass and assault a minor in public.

I think you are over reacting a little bit. I don't think the OP means frog-marched in a literal sense. If the boy did indeed litter in the streets, I don't see why he shouldn't be questioned about it.