You Know When You've Been ASBO'd

Nanny's much heralded ASBO scheme has descended into farce.

It seems that Scotland Yard has had to withdraw 180,000 fixed-penalty notice forms, after discovering that the phone number for people to call to pay the fines was incorrect.

These were issued in November last year, the problem was only brought to the attention of the police by people complaining that they could not get through on the phone lines.

It seems somewhat odd to me that it has taken this long for them to be withdrawn.

Whilst the police contend that the fines are still valid, a lawyer is quoted as saying that the error means that people will be able to contest the fines if:

"..they could prove that they were unable to read addresses for payment because of dyslexia or poor literacy skills...".

This sorry tale highlights the problems with many of Nanny's "initiatives", whilst they may be put forward with the best of intentions (that's very reasonable of me isn't it?), their implementation is lazy and slipshod.

In other words, Nanny cannot be bothered to think through the consequences of her actions; she merely seeks to grab the headlines.