Fined Twice for the Same Litter
Everybody who deplores the practice of chucking litter about, instead of taking it home or using bins, will be delighted by a recent news story from Essex.
I’m afraid that Leicester, the city where I live now, fine place though it is in many ways, has a dreadful litter problem. I have lived and worked in lots of towns and cities, and I have never come across anything like the behaviour of so many of its citizens.
The attitude of so many is that rubbish should be simply dropped, where one happens to be. And even the people who don’t actually do that seem to feel that it is a normal part of life.
If you speak to Leicester people about the problem, the response is usually “well, it’s the same everywhere.” Well, it’s not, as people who come on my Coach Trips witness when they visit other towns and cities.
When the problem is acknowledged, the justification is “well, it’s the kids.” Sorry, but while it’s true that children and teenagers tend to be guilty of littering, so do people in their twenties, thirties etc. I’ve seen plenty of people much older than me happily doing it, showing it to be regarded as perfectly acceptable behaviour.
And anyway, if it were just “the kids”, from whom would they have learned it?
All this leads to a news item which I came across recently.
Matthew Buer, 21, from Clacton, was driving along the A133 when he threw some chips out of his car window. He was spotted by officers from Colchester Council, and fined £50.
Matthew paid the fine and assumed that that would be the end of the matter. But he then received a letter from Tendring Council, and was fined by them too.
Some of the chips had landed in the Colchester area and some in Tendring.
Matthew is quoted as commenting “I got a letter from Tendring Council saying that part of what I threw out of the window landed in its district and the rest in Colchester, and I had to pay two fines. They’ve got to be taking the mickey, big time.”
Mike Page said, on behalf of Tendring Council, “It wasn’t just a few chips, this was chip after chip and the wrapping as well. It covered a fair distance.”
Congratulations to the councils in Essex who clearly wish to keep their county free from litter, and won’t put up with this disgusting behaviour. Other councils, not to mention citizens, please take note.
Posted by colin on Sunday 30th April, 2006 at 8:08am