It's great to live in Britain (Reprise)

[kurtz]

Just a follow on to a previous topic

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...5/nroll125.xml

A single mother has been fined £75 for "littering" after her daughter dropped a piece of sausage roll on the pavement.
Sarah Davies, 20, was feeding Chloe, four, when the roll slipped from her grasp inches from her daughter's mouth and fell to the floor

[August]

Originally Posted by kurtz

Just a follow on to a previous topic

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...5/nroll125.xml

Habeas Corpus?

[bradclark1]

That is unbelievable.:rotfl:

[STEED]

Whats new? Didn't a child in a pram drop a packet of crisps last year and the mother was given a on the spot fine. It's time people found there backbones again and kick ass big time.

[Letum]

Well, it's a problem.

My small village is flooded with tourists at this time of year. They come to see the
famous river of daffodils. Each year they leave litter everywhere. It is a real nuisance
and I am glad the police are trying to crack down on it.

In this case, it is clear that no one did anything wrong.

The council was not wrong to fine someone for littering.
The mother/child did not do anything wrong when dropping a bit of sausage roll.
And the law was not wrong in keeping the rules about dropping litter simple by banning
ALL littering regardless of circumstance.

The council can't either investigate every littering case in detail and thereby push up council
tax either. Chances are that everyone just 'did their job' once the wheels had been
put into motion.

Something certinaly needs to be done to prevent this in the future, but I struggle
to find a way to fix the problem without needing more cash for investigating each case
to see if a mistake like this has been made before the fine goes through or without
legaliseing littering.

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by kurtz

Sarah Davies, 20, was feeding Chloe, four

Wow

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Wow

*get out calculator*......

....

Wow

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Wow

I wondered how long it would take for someone here to do their maths (snicker)

"“I went back to take a picture of the 'litter’, but it had been gobbled by pigeons. There was no litter there at all.”"

Mr. Councilmember, where is the evidence of my crime?"

On some of the British blogs I haunt, I hear people bitching about the councils but it this sort of stuff is happening, no wonder. They are worse than HOAs here in America.

You guys and gals in Limey Land have my sympathies.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Letum

In this case, it is clear that no one did anything wrong.

I disagree. I think several people did several things wrong. This is assuming, of course, that the news story tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and it happened exactly the way it was reported.

The council was not wrong to fine someone for littering.

The council members who approached her could have seen that it was food, not litter that had to be cleaned up, and that the birds had taken it all. The council proper could have questioned them on this and let it go. The spirit of the law versus the letter of the law, and all that.

The mother/child did not do anything wrong when dropping a bit of sausage roll.

If it had been anything but food that the birds jumped on it would have been different, but I think she was right in this case.

And the law was not wrong in keeping the rules about dropping litter simple by banning
ALL littering regardless of circumstance.

No, but the people tasked with enforcing laws like this need to use their heads for more than a hatrack.

The council can't either investigate every littering case in detail and thereby push up council
tax either. Chances are that everyone just 'did their job' once the wheels had been
put into motion.

Sounds to me like a case of petty beaurocrats taking themselves just a little too seriously.

Something certinaly needs to be done to prevent this in the future, but I struggle
to find a way to fix the problem without needing more cash for investigating each case
to see if a mistake like this has been made before the fine goes through or without
legaliseing littering.

Why are you struggling at all? It's simple: tell the enforcers that if they see someone leave wrappers or anything that won't go away without another human being picking it up, to approach the offender and speak to them. "I'm sorry to bother you, madam, but we have very strict littering laws. I'm going to have to ask you to pick up your litter and put it in the rubbish bin." If she causes trouble, then crack her skull...I mean, fine her.

[Platapus]

With my rat-like instincts I wonder if there is more to this story...

Citizen drops a small piece of food on the ground and there just happens to be two "men in black" watching her.

I wonder if Ms Davies was not a known trouble maker and the council was just using this as an excuse to fine her.

Or did Ms Davies deliberatly do this in sight of two council members with the intent to cause a scene where she could garner sympathy and perhaps help a lawsuit?

I wonder if there is more to this story than is reported :hmm:

Is it against the law to feed the birds in England now? I thought the English were big time bird feeders.

[Skybird]

Anyone remembering the SF-movie "Zardoz" with Sean Connery? The senile, degenerated society described in it? And how it all ended? These PC-stories on British councils often remind me of that.

BTW, what would be the German equivalent to British councils? Somehow I have no real concept of what they are. Or are they a unique thing typical for Britain alone?

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Why are you struggling at all? It's simple: tell the enforcers that if they see someone leave wrappers or anything that won't go away without another human being picking it up, to approach the offender and speak to them. "I'm sorry to bother you, madam, but we have very strict littering laws. I'm going to have to ask you to pick up your litter and put it in the rubbish bin." If she causes trouble, then crack her skull...I mean, fine her.

Well, if you just ask litterers to pick it up, then they will, but the next day they will drop something again.
You need to fine them as a deterant or nothing gets changed.

These people (but not necciceraly this woman) have no care what so ever for keeping
their/other peoples town/city/village tidy.

[STEED]

We have a problem here in the UK, Councils are tight fisted and will not created more public bins I know my council will not. There excuse is you can place a bomb in a bin and cost as well, yea right. Another problem is when we do get the bins they soon over flow due to not being emptied on a regular basics so the up shot is this, it's more easy for the council to slap a ticket on you for littering.

[Letum]

Strange, York Council is always adding more bins and replacing old bins so they
have separate sections or recyclable waste. Perhaps it is because of the tourism here...

[kurtz]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Is it against the law to feed the birds in England now? I thought the English were big time bird feeders.

There are (in some places) signs discouraging it. This is because a pigeon is a device for transforming a sausage roll into pooh which falls out of the sky on to your head, they are horrid, horrid creatures