Cigarette ends and "fines"

Snakes_Belly

Interesting article which might be worth a read.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4497068/Mother-26-fined-1-000-dropped-cigarette-butt.html

beamerguy

Snakes_Belly wrote: »

Interesting article which might be worth a read.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4497068/Mother-26-fined-1-000-dropped-cigarette-butt.html

Hmm ...... whilst I want to see our country clean of litter, what this
lady did was nothing compared to the fly tippers.

Instead of such a large fine, surely community service would be
better and they can work cleaning up other people's litter

forgotmyname

Cannot afford carpets for the childs room but can afford iphones and smoking etc etc?

Snakes_Belly

I think that they must have been making an example of this lady but it just goes to show what they can do especially if litter in the town is becoming a big problem.

Coupon-mad

It's not the way forward though, fines are NOT the right way to change people's behaviour in a way that isn't aggressive and 'Big Brother' like.

youdontsay

The issue for me with this is that this has nothing to do with keeping the environment litter free and everything to do with unscrupulous ways of making money. I dont smoke, I am something of a smoke-phobic, in that I would avoid being where there are people smoking. But, how the councils think that its ok to pay private firms for this 'service' is beyond me.

A relative of mine got caught with this. The lazy wardens hang out in places like train stations, where smokers havent had a cigarette for a while and light up when they get off and a five minute walk away, they prey like vultures.

The thing was this. The warden didnt request that they pick up the litter. Neither did the warden pick up the litter. The offending cigarette end still lies on the floor, littering the environment. So the situation is not improved, but unsuspecting person is more than £100 worse off.

I am much less offended by a discarded cigarette end than I am by an abandoned soiled nappy etc etc And yet we see these things all the time around our pavements.

Somebody, one day, sat down and had the brainwave of slapping big fines for tiny pieces of litter (whereas the huge offenders, fly tippers etc are ignored) and they are laughing all the way to the bank Kerching indeed !!

Coupon-mad

Exactly like the scam of private parking fake PCNs.

boliston

There are some videos on youtube about litter wardens and they certainly seem to go after easy targets who look like they would not cause any aggro if fined - as i understand it they cannot detain as they are not police and can only ask for your details but that if you walk away they can only follow you and not physically detain - it would not be so bad if they went after chavs who chuck cans and food wrappers but they don't as they know most chavs would just tell them to f off

Coupon-mad

they certainly seem to go after easy targets who look like they would not cause any aggro if fined

Course they do, like parking firms choose victims to sue who have offered hopeless appeals, or no appeals. And like the litter scumbags, they too hide round corners waiting to pounce with fines, or use the jolly wheeze of remote ANPR cameras that drivers do not even know are there.

Litter scumbags don't politely, firstly, ask people to pick the item up, which would resolve the issue.

Parking scumbag firms NEVER warn drivers not to park, indeed they've been reported as encouraging people to park where the car will then (within 10 minutes) get a PCN after the driver has gone.

The entire 'fine culture' of this Country is out of control, and is a matter we should all be ashamed about, especially when poor victims actually pay because they are foreign, or naive, or whatever.

logician

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Course they do, like parking firms choose victims to sue who have offered hopeless appeals, or no appeals. And like the litter scumbags, they too hide round corners waiting to pounce with fines, or use the jolly wheeze of remote ANPR cameras that drivers do not even know are there.

Litter scumbags don't politely, firstly, ask people to pick the item up, which would resolve the issue.

Parking scumbag firms NEVER warn drivers not to park, indeed they've been reported as encouraging people to park where the car will then (within 10 minutes) get a PCN after the driver has gone.

The entire 'fine culture' of this Country is out of control, and is a matter we should all be ashamed about, especially when poor victims actually pay because they are foreign, or naive, or whatever.

Littering is certainly an anti social issue, so how or what should be done to resolve this.

Several years ago, I had to call the police when threatened physically when a litterbug decided to dispense of their soiled goods in our front garden.

I agree that the 'fine culture' needs addressing.

The DWP could set an example by not penalising vulnerable people - there are many horror stories in that regard, including people committing suicide.