[Misc] On the spot fine

[Westdene Seagull]

Can't say I have any sympathy. It's always amazed me the number of smokers that seem to think getting rid of their fag butt in the street isn't littering ..... even worse those that toss them out the car window. I don't smoke but I do drink, I assume it's OK for me to crush the empty can and shove it down the drain ? Of course not .... so why's it different for fag butts ?

 

[GT49er]

You make it sound like they only fine smokers! Open your eyes and look at the garbage lying around, I'm sure they fine others as well.

Really? Woodlands and hedgerows awash with fly-tipped litter (or just chucked out of car windows). Pursued and persecuted as vigorously as smokers, who are an easy touch for £75 and are generally regarded as pariahs with no rights anyway? I don't think so!

 

[maffew]

Can't say I have any sympathy. It's always amazed me the number of smokers that seem to think getting rid of their fag butt in the street isn't littering ..... even worse those that toss them out the car window. I don't smoke but I do drink, I assume it's OK for me to crush the empty can and shove it down the drain ? Of course not .... so why's it different for fag butts ?

No sympathy? Fair enough

I said its excessive IMO, not wrong. Putting a cigarette butt down a drain isnt the same as emptying an ashtray out of a window nor making the effort to crush a can and put it down the drain. Not quite the same thing

Worth £75 or £(40). Not from where I am sat. There isn't a victim per se. Its just a fine for the sake of it and a waste of money.

 

[Baldseagull]

According to the gov website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/enforcement-officers-issuing-fixed-penalty-notices

this bit here Give offenders the chance to pick up litter before you issue an FPN. Warn them that you will issue an FPN if they don’t., surely you shouldn't have been fined, nor the majority who drop a fag or whatever, as they weren't offered the chance to pick it up?

Someone must know on here.

Unfortunately, that is guidance, the law allows a stricter application, and councils need the fines to pay for the wardens, because Government has stripped funding back and capped council taxes. Councils look to make profits from operations now, gone is the idea that they provide us with services which we pay for through taxation.

 

[maffew]

You make it sound like they only fine smokers! Open your eyes and look at the garbage lying around, I'm sure they fine others as well.

:sigh: I wasnt fly tipping a mattress for example. It was a rollup end, in a drain. It did have a filter in to be fair which probably doesnt biodegrade wherever drains go. Have to be careful with sanitary towels and the like in future

 

[A mex eyecan]

portable pocket ashtrays?

 

[maffew]

portable pocket ashtrays?

Good call

 

[A mex eyecan]

Good call

2 minutes googling found loads on ebay, simple solution by the looks of things

 

[Garage_Doors]

Where should a person put a cigarette end when they have finished with it but it's still burning if they are outside?

Not down a drain, that's for sure, extinguish it and dispose of it in a rubbish bin at a guess.

 

[Justice]

Can't say I have any sympathy. It's always amazed me the number of smokers that seem to think getting rid of their fag butt in the street isn't littering ..... even worse those that toss them out the car window. I don't smoke but I do drink, I assume it's OK for me to crush the empty can and shove it down the drain ? Of course not .... so why's it different for fag butts ?

Drinkers can’t even be bothered to use the large bins provided at the Amex.

 

[drew]

No sympathy? Fair enough

I said its excessive IMO, not wrong. Putting a cigarette butt down a drain isnt the same as emptying an ashtray out of a window nor making the effort to crush a can and put it down the drain. Not quite the same thing

Worth £75 or £(40). Not from where I am sat. There isn't a victim per se. Its just a fine for the sake of it and a waste of money.

You say it's excessive but didn't it have the desired effect to deter you next time?

 

[bha100]

Unfortunately, that is guidance, the law allows a stricter application, and councils need the fines to pay for the wardens, because Government has stripped funding back and capped council taxes. Councils look to make profits from operations now, gone is the idea that they provide us with services which we pay for through taxation.

That is incorrect, the law is clear under the environmental Protection Act 1990, section 87, offence of leaving litter.

(1)A person is guilty of an offence if he throws down, drops or otherwise deposits any litter in any place to which this section applies and leaves it

 

[maltaseagull]

I'm not sure it was still burning anyway. There was probably a bin in a 30 metre walk in any direction being in a town centre. The thought of going on the hunt for one didnt even cross my mind

Sadly that's why so many towns and cities are full of litter.

Not enough bins and too many people not bothered enough about their environment.
Although to be fair I would have thought putting it in the drain would be ok.
It's worse in Malta!

 

[Return of the Rev]

£75 for putting the end of a cigarette/rollup in a drain Bit excessive IMO. Wont do it again though
No point appealing it is there?

Brilliant, more of the same please.

 

[Pickles]

Sadly that's why so many towns and cities are full of litter.

Not enough bins and too many people not bothered enough about their environment.
Although to be fair I would have thought putting it in the drain would be ok.
It's worse in Malta!

I'd suggest that the op does care about the environment, hence him not just chucking it away in the road.

Ok, he now knows that it's not ok to put a fag butt in the drain, so he's learnt, as quite a few have via this thread, I reckon.

And let's be honest, this is a money spinner, better than even Barber out could have dreamed of.

Pound to a penny you won't see the CEOs outside a town centre pub on a Saturday night, fining groups of lads chucking away their fag butts.

 

[BNthree]

These officers are from 3GS a private sub-contractor to Brighton council. They are meant to be stopping litter but as the company pockets 2/3 of all the fines they get they seem to exclusively target smokers for quick money.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16196376.3gs-litter-wardens-target-foreign-students-in-brighton/

 

[Pickles]

These officers are from 3GS a private sub-contractor to Brighton council. They are meant to be stopping litter but as the company pockets 2/3 of all the fines they get they seem to exclusively target smokers for quick money.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16196376.3gs-litter-wardens-target-foreign-students-in-brighton/

The firm is not paid but takes two-thirds of the fines they issue.

After their first six months of operation The Argus revealed the firm had issued 480 fines to smokers but only five for littering.

Quelle surprise.

Edit. Doesn't two-thirds written look less than a written 66.66%.....

 

[father_and_son]

I know it's argumentative but I really couldn't give a f**k if op got fined. You have made a conscious decision to smoke in a public space and therefore it is ENTIRELY your responsibility to deal with the mess you make.

Whilst I am sure op is a decent bloke I have zero sympathy. There are tins you can get as mobile ashtrays or you can walk to a bin or stub it on a wall and take the butt home. Loads of options that a) don't make a mess of our towns and cities and b) don't cause expense for other people who have to clear up your sh*t.

With your right to smoke in a public place, comes your responsibility to clear up after yourself. Can't do the latter don't do the former
This idea that it is acceptable to drop your rubbish (and I include food wrappers, cans and other stiff, not just fag ends) where someone else has to deal with it needs to be stamped out.

And the idea that the drain is a magic, bottomless pit where sh*t just disappears is equally bad. It still has to be dealt with by someone!

Sorry OP, but asking people nicely doesn't work, hence the needs for real deterrents

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Fag ends are not biodegradable because of the crap they are manufactured from. Therefore you were fined for littering, and good riddance.

 

[maffew]

I know it's argumentative but I really couldn't give a f**k if op got fined. You have made a conscious decision to smoke in a public space and therefore it is ENTIRELY your responsibility to deal with the mess you make.

Whilst I am sure op is a decent bloke I have zero sympathy. There are tins you can get as mobile ashtrays or you can walk to a bin or stub it on a wall and take the butt home. Loads of options that a) don't make a mess of our towns and cities and b) don't cause expense for other people who have to clear up your sh*t.

With your right to smoke in a public place, comes your responsibility to clear up after yourself. Can't do the latter don't do the former
This idea that it is acceptable to drop your rubbish (and I include food wrappers, cans and other stiff, not just fag ends) where someone else has to deal with it needs to be stamped out.

And the idea that the drain is a magic, bottomless pit where sh*t just disappears is equally bad. It still has to be dealt with by someone!

Sorry OP, but asking people nicely doesn't work, hence the needs for real deterrents

It's ironic really in the sense that if I see other people's litter on the floor I quite happily pick it up and put it in a bin sometimes or tell someone they have dropped something. I didn't give putting a cigarette but down a drain a second thought