This is what we have to put up with. Bullies.
A hairdresser says he was ‘treated like a criminal’ after being slapped with a £80 fine when a receipt fell from his pocket.
Stewart Bernie, 60, says he’d never had any trouble with the law until he was challenged by two uniformed environmental officers after leaving a newsagents in Camden, north London.
The duo informed him that on his way into the shop at 10am that morning, he had dropped a receipt from his pocket on the payment, The Times reports.
The father-of-two explained that it related to cold medicine he had bought earlier that morning and apologised for the mishap, but was surprised to find the officers weren’t willing to let the matter rest.
He described one of the officers as ‘dismissive of what I had to say’ and ‘really intimidating, zero tolerance’.
This isn’t littering and it is not grounds for a FPN and they should know this, but like the licencing goons sent by Capita, they are incentivised to bully people.
Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said guidelines drawn up by DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) said punitive action in cases of littering must be fair.
She said: ‘Accidental littering, something that’s fallen from someone’s pocket, is specifically referred to as a scenario where a fixed-penalty notice should not be issued.’
And that should be the end of the matter.
‘Accidental littering, something that’s fallen from someone’s pocket, is specifically referred to as a scenario where a fixed-penalty notice should not be issued.’
Assuming those two ass clowns were properly trained (and that’s probably a big assumption) they should have known that. So, either they were ignorant of the above, or they suffer from a condition common among those from government and local government agencies that I call “Tin God Syndrome” or “TGS”. People like this get even a tiny amount of power and they instantly assume that they are all seeing and all knowing. And it goes straight to their heads and they assume that they are far more important than they actually are. I bet they wouldn’t have said a word if he’d dropped a tenner.
I have to admit, I didn’t know that know that accidentally dropping litter was not grounds to issue a FPN. I’ll file that for future reference. I’ve always been one to fight my corner if I believe that I’m not in the wrong.
“I bet they wouldn’t have said a word if he’d dropped a tenner”
Actually, I seem to remember during New Labour that a fiver dropped out of someone’s pocket and the high viz idiots issued a fine!
And it’s a pound to a pinch of oofle dust that they’re on commission, like the TV tax enforcers.
And just like the TV tax goons, they can be told to ‘fuck off’. And if they follow you, well, that’s stalking. Please don’t refer to TVLA goons as ‘enforcers’, because they have no more authority than a doorstep salesman.
Are you under any obligation to tell these clowns your name? I can’t think that there would be much that they could do if you didn’t. If they were police officers then they would have the power to arrest you, I very much doubt that ‘uniformed environmental officers’ have such powers. So the best response would be to tell them to get lost.
They have to call the police if you refuse to cooperate. They have no powers themselves. Personally, I’d say ‘do it.’
Yes, call their bluff. Are they prepared to risk a bollocking from genuine law enforcement officers for wasting their time? The earlier post about standing up to bullies applies here.
Bullies is right.
Look at their choice of target. A 60 year old man.
Bet they wouldn’t act like this to a pikey or someone who looks like they’ll just stab them as soon as look at them…
I’d love to see one of these twats try this act in somewhere like Bradford. You’d be reading about the enforcer getting shanked in under a day.
I’m a 64 year old man. I’m also a pretty muscular man with a shaved head. Friends and family have commented that I look quite intimidating to those who don’t know me, especially when I get the face on. So if a small piece of paper falls out of my pocket I should be ok.