Woman could go to jail after dropping cigarette
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 16:58 A 48-year-old woman is willing to go to jail rather than pay a fine for dropping a cigarette outside her home.
She's an "eco-criminal", apparently, and eco-criminals will not be tolerated.
I have just given the following quote to a national newspaper:
"We don't condone littering but the penalty does seem excessive and disproportionate to the crime.
"A verbal warning should have been sufficient but smokers are easy targets these days.
"They can't smoke in pubs and clubs, they're told not to smoke in cars or in the home if children are present, but as soon as they step outside they're criminalised for inadvertently dropping a cigarette.
"A little bit of common sense wouldn't go amiss."
Update: £465 fine for dropping cigarette on doorstep (Daily Express)
Reader Comments (12)
This is one hell of a successful strategy. I've said before that this is little to do with 'heath' but purely an attack on free markets by belting the consumer. The attempt, years ago, of hitting the producer didn't work so hit the consumer. If that succeeds the producer and his profit falls by default. They start with Tobacco and move on from there. Alcohol, drinks, food, oil, you name it, it's all in the sights of the 60's generation who are today in positions of influence. I knew seven dyed in the wool socialists in 1964. Three went into Local Govt. and four went to Teachers Training Colleges. We laughed at them, then, we're seeing the results now.
Another example of how smokers are already being criminalised. Need I say more. Good luck to the lady. Dropping a cig end is like dropping a leaf. I wouldn't pay either. But I would use an ashtray and the reason the Govt doesn't promote this is because they want smokers to fall foul so that they can criminalise them easily with public approval.
"the offence can attract vermin."
Was i the only one to have a Lena Riefenstahl moment?
http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/media/15617/1815.jpg
The quotation from the council prat makes interesting reading;
Eco-criminals will not be tolerated.( bit like Jews and other undesirables eh)
The biggest single problem in the area ( Really!)
Unsightly and attracts vermin. ( Rats scrounging for a roll up or does he mean council enforcement officers?)
Forgot to mention that the phrase ' eco- criminal' could be an immediate hit with jobsworths and political types.
“eco-criminal” What the hell is an eco-criminal? This whole nastiness against smokers is despicable, what was a simple matter of issuing a caution has spiralled into a ludicrously disproportionate fine of some £450. I’m glad she refuses to pay, and I hope she sticks to her guns.
Can you imagine having our jails full of decent ordinary people refusing to pay fines because of some concerted effort to eradicate smoking in this once free country?
I would love to see prominent people taking the same stance, and then watch this laughing-stock country of ours come to a grinding halt, because these people aren’t doing the important things that they should but are languishing in jail over something that’s extraordinarily insignificant in the overall scheme of things.
We’ve become a despotic little island poisoned by the infestation of hate-filled zealots on the rampage.
"the offence can attract vermin."
...whereas takeaways discarded by late night reveller don't? We must assume that Pontypridd rats are early bedders.
I'd like to think that this lady holds her ground, goes to court and argues that a) it's not in the public interest that she is sent to prison b) that the law is not being applied even-handedly or effectively when all kinds of litter are ignored because litter enforcement officers are off-duty when the greatest amount of litter appears and c) she had dropped the butt to stamp it out and was not given reasonable time to pick it up and therefore her intention was not to litter, anyway.
How terrible that we've come to the pass that zealous little jobsworths are given power that they haven't the ability to handle.
Interesting that in the picture alongside the article there are about 12 fag butts and 15 pieces of chewing gum.
I suspect the pic was set up with the butts being placed there for effect, but no such set up is required for chewing gum. It's everywhere but few people seem to notice.
Tony Hand
What surprises me more than anything is what Rhodda Cynon Taff Council said in its defence. "The dropping of cig butts is not only unsightly but encourages rodents." They were correct on both accounts. The rodents are the misfits employed to hand out these on the spot fines. One only has to look at the streets in this area to realise that cig butts are the least of the unsightly signs in the area.
Much as i feel exceedingly sorry for this lady, questions are simple:
Why was she smoking outside her own house-is she a self styled victim of this nanny state?
Did she actually drop the cigarette end in the street or in her own boundaries?
Why did the silly woman not go to court to announce that she had thrown the fag end without thinking but had retrieved said fag end immediately but was still given a ticket when there was no actual evidence of littering to be seen!
A worrying aspect of this is the comments section on the Daily Mail website. While there are many posts in defence of this woman, other posts suggest that there is a large minority of trolls in society who have a searing hatred of smokers - indeed if they referred to black people or Jews in the way they do smokers most of them would be up before the beak.
Today I was horrified to be slapped with an £80 fine for dropping a cigarette butt. I visited Starbucks and sat at one of their tables outside. Just as I lit the cigarette I noticed there was no ashtray on the table, I scanned the other tables and again no ashtrays. I had no option to put the cigarette out under the table as no member of staff came out and I couldn't go in with a lit cigarette. I am not one for littering and didn't think I was doing anything wrong as I was still seated within the Starbucks boundaries and they would keep the area tidy. I finished my drink and walked away.. 10 seconds from leaving the table I was approached by a man telling me I had broken the law.. When I told him I was within the Starbucks area he said it didn't matter as the cigarette butt MIGHT blow down the road. This is a private company employed by the council. I don't smoke at home or in my car so the only time I smoke is when I am out and I will find a coffee shop that has seating outside. I had noticed these two men when entering Starbucks and they stood in the same place the whole time while I was having my drink and cigarette and watched to see what I would do with the butt as they would also have noticed there were no ashtrays on the tables... Starbucks just hadn't got around to putting them out.. A few yards up the road you have a McDonald's and the other direction you have cafe rouge and a number of other easting establishments with seating outside... What they are basically saying is if you are having a meal or drinks in any of the outside establishments and you put something on the floor whether knowingly or unknowingly they will fine you dispite the establishment being responsible for cleaning that area and not the council. I was treated like a criminal in front of my young son even when I explained there was no where to put it hence why I put it under the table... They then told me there was a rubbish bin near by, health and safety springs to mind there as wouldn't think it a sensible idea to but a lit cigarette in the rubbish bin, and when I asked where it was they then pointed to a clothes rail full of clothes outside a shop and the bin was located behind it... Completely hidden..... A caution would have been better on this occasion. This is a private company out to make money.