Driver fined £150 over apple core
Discussion
The article says that he was reported by an enforcement officer in the car behind. Now my eyesight isn't the best, but how easy is to identify an apple core sized object being thrown from a car window from a car length and a bit away? Is it the best use of someone's time to stop his car, block the junction, and search through the hedgerow for evidence to prove or disprove whether the litter was something that would biodegrade quickly enough to not cause a nuisance?
Frankly I'm fed up with people who think they can just chuck unwanted rubbish out of their car windows because they're too damned lazy to stick it in the bin when they get home. We regularly collect a black bin full of rubbish from the verge on our half mile walk to school. If dealing with those lazy people means that the occasionally someone's going to get fined £50 for chucking something out of their window that maybe isn't as bad a McDonalds wrapper, then so be it. Coming up with an enforceable legal process to allow you the "freedom" to chuck some stuff out of your window but not other stuff is much harder, and much more expensive. The alternative of just taking your apple core home to stick in the bin instead isn't exactly onerous or expensive.
Frankly I'm fed up with people who think they can just chuck unwanted rubbish out of their car windows because they're too damned lazy to stick it in the bin when they get home. We regularly collect a black bin full of rubbish from the verge on our half mile walk to school. If dealing with those lazy people means that the occasionally someone's going to get fined £50 for chucking something out of their window that maybe isn't as bad a McDonalds wrapper, then so be it. Coming up with an enforceable legal process to allow you the "freedom" to chuck some stuff out of your window but not other stuff is much harder, and much more expensive. The alternative of just taking your apple core home to stick in the bin instead isn't exactly onerous or expensive.
I've thrown the odd apple core into a hedgerow from my car before. I've definitely justified it by thinking about it being biodegradeable. I'd never throw it just on the side of the road though and I would never throw any other kind of litter from my car or leave it somewhere other than a bin. I suppose we all justify things in our own way. For example, I don't pick up my dog's crap if he does it on the water's edge at low tide and the beach is empty at 0600. At any other time or place I'm absolutely scrupulous about clearing up after him. I don't feel I'm a bad person.
For example, I don't pick up my dog's crap if he does it on the water's edge at low tide and the beach is empty at 0600. At any other time or place I'm absolutely scrupulous about clearing up after him. I don't feel I'm a bad person.
I'll remember that next time I open swim and knock into one of your dogs logs! Would you mind if I s
t outside your house next to a drain? I'm sure the next lot of rain will wash it away.
I'll remember that next time I open swim and knock into one of your dogs logs! Would you mind if I s
t outside your house next to a drain? I'm sure the next lot of rain will wash it away. Xaero said:
An old neighbour of mine got a fine for throwing out an apple core before, this was in the mid 90s though so the fine wasn't quite so high, although I do remember it being high at the time.
Maybe the jobsworth should hang outside a McDonalds drive through, they'd have a field day.
Any fast food outlet to be honest !Maybe the jobsworth should hang outside a McDonalds drive through, they'd have a field day.
Here, In downtown Worcester, they have newspaper articles about how staff from these outlets are responsible, and the outlets should be fined etc.
I guess we've all been responsible for littering at some time or another, I certanly have, if caught, (which is getting more likely now because of cctv, there was a case in nearby Kidderminster where the cameras couldn't identify thieves who stole thousands of pounds worth of diesel from a council depot, but could issue a fpn to a council worker who threw a fagbut out of the window of his car), you just need to pay the "littering tax".
Jagmanv12 said:
So throwing bread on the local duck pond is littering as well?
Yes. Bread is not a natural food for ducks, and the crap sold in supermarkets is bad for them (and swans).The Daily Telegraph 12 November 2009 said:
Vanessa Kelly, 26, was accosted by a council warden as she and 17-month-old Harry threw the birds scraps of bread.
She has vowed to fight the council “all the way” to have the fine revoked.
Miss Kelly visited the park in Smethwick, West Mids, on Tuesday afternoon.
She said: “The warden walked towards me and asked me to stop feeding the ducks because of complaints about children slipping over on their way to school on duck mess. But there are no health and safety signs up.
"I said fair enough, but then she started doing a fine. I asked ‘what for?’ and she said 'littering.'
She has vowed to fight the council “all the way” to have the fine revoked.
Miss Kelly visited the park in Smethwick, West Mids, on Tuesday afternoon.
She said: “The warden walked towards me and asked me to stop feeding the ducks because of complaints about children slipping over on their way to school on duck mess. But there are no health and safety signs up.
"I said fair enough, but then she started doing a fine. I asked ‘what for?’ and she said 'littering.'
9mm said:
For example, I don't pick up my dog's crap if he does it on the water's edge at low tide and the beach is empty at 0600. At any other time or place I'm absolutely scrupulous about clearing up after him. I don't feel I'm a bad person.
Bang out of order IMO. Why is it OK if it's early and no one is around? You must know its wrong, surely?streaky said:
Jagmanv12 said:
So throwing bread on the local duck pond is littering as well?
Yes. Bread is not a natural food for ducks, and the crap sold in supermarkets is bad for them (and swans).The Daily Telegraph 12 November 2009 said:
Vanessa Kelly, 26, was accosted by a council warden as she and 17-month-old Harry threw the birds scraps of bread.
She has vowed to fight the council “all the way” to have the fine revoked.
Miss Kelly visited the park in Smethwick, West Mids, on Tuesday afternoon.
She said: “The warden walked towards me and asked me to stop feeding the ducks because of complaints about children slipping over on their way to school on duck mess. But there are no health and safety signs up.
"I said fair enough, but then she started doing a fine. I asked ‘what for?’ and she said 'littering.'
She has vowed to fight the council “all the way” to have the fine revoked.
Miss Kelly visited the park in Smethwick, West Mids, on Tuesday afternoon.
She said: “The warden walked towards me and asked me to stop feeding the ducks because of complaints about children slipping over on their way to school on duck mess. But there are no health and safety signs up.
"I said fair enough, but then she started doing a fine. I asked ‘what for?’ and she said 'littering.'
k off will do.Fozziebear said:
For example, I don't pick up my dog's crap if he does it on the water's edge at low tide and the beach is empty at 0600. At any other time or place I'm absolutely scrupulous about clearing up after him. I don't feel I'm a bad person.
I'll remember that next time I open swim and knock into one of your dogs logs! Would you mind if I st outside your house next to a drain? I'm sure the next lot of rain will wash it away.
Not comparable at all. I've already said I pick it up in other places and at other times, so it would never be left outside someone's house.I'll remember that next time I open swim and knock into one of your dogs logs! Would you mind if I s
t outside your house next to a drain? I'm sure the next lot of rain will wash it away. You'd be doing well to swim at 0600 at low tide where I live unless you are tadpole-sized, so I guess you must be thinking of later, when said log bumps into you somewhere along the coast at high tide. I'm a swimmer too and don't worry about things like this. Turds don't survive the tide coming in over rocks and are mixed up with all sorts of scary things like dead fishes and birds.
If people were about and the tide situation meant there was any chance of someone treading in it I'd pick it up. There aren't and there isn't so I don't. I can't think of any other scenario where I don't pick up after the dog and I'm not convinced my actions are an issue.
There is a route I often cycle down with a large apple tree in the hedgerow. The apples are small but tasty. I often pick one to munch on. If I don't eat it, it will fall off the tree into the hedgerow. If I eat 70% of it and throw the core into the hedgerow, surely I have picked up litter, not deposited it?
Environmentally, if he had chucked it in a litter bin, it would have gone to landfill. More environmentally friendly than hedging it?
Environmentally, if he had chucked it in a litter bin, it would have gone to landfill. More environmentally friendly than hedging it?
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