Nanny can never resist the opportunity to screw her subjects for cash, as Stephen Mayes from Gidea Park Essex found to his cost recently.Mr Mayes brought two plants from his garden and left them in a colleague's parking space, so that she could load them into the boot of her car when she arrived at work later.
Can you guess what happened next children?
Yes, that's right, as if by magic a jobsworth from the Havering Borough council appeared.
The jobsworth then "cautioned" Mr Mayes and slapped a £100 fine for fly-tipping on him.
Mr Mayes rolled over and paid £50 in two weeks, thus "earning" a reduction in the £100 demand.
In the event Mr Mayes did not pay up, he might have been liable for a £2,500 fine; despite the fact he wrote to the council to explain what happened.
Ker farking ching!
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This is demanding money with menaces.....Most of the new fines(sic) have an early settlement discount attached and many people just pay up because they fear a higher penalty....I say, in cases such as this one, one must take it to court and challange it and, if necessary, appeal it if the magistrate acts as little more than a rubber stamper for the state. Crown court judges, on the whole, are sensible people and most would laugh this pettyness out of court.
ReplyDeleteCommonsense tells you what flytipping is, sadly commonsense is not common amongst hi-viz clad council jobsworths; as local councils use laws in such a way, it brings the system into disrepute and people will start to nolonger respect the law.
OK, I realise that I have been out of the UK for a long time, but here’s what I don’t understand. Perhaps someone could take the time to explain it to me (hopefully without the usual You might get arrested, locked in a police cell and have your fingerprints and DNA taken…..blah…blah.
ReplyDeleteSome jobsworth pounces on you, wanting to issue a ‘fixed penalty’ fine for some perceived minor infraction. You know that he is in the wrong and overstepping his authority.
Why give him your name and address?
Why not simply tell him to get on his mobile and call a policeman so that you can explain the situation to someone in proper authority?
Once a policeman is called you can insist that he makes a written record of anything you say, which will serve to strengthen your defence if you have to fight the case in a court. Also insist on making a note of the policeman’s name and number, and tell him that you will, if needed, call him as a witness to your defence.
If you feel confident enough in yourself, it is not that hard to represent yourself in small claim’s courts.
Why make things easy for these bastards?
Fair comment Gary, you wonder why anyone would give their details in this kind of circumstance?
ReplyDeleteTonk said..."....Crown court judges, on the whole, are sensible people...."
ReplyDeleteWhilst I agree with most of the points made by yourself, Gary and Mr Potato Head on this matter, I suggest that some judges are not only lacking in sense, but also totally out of touch with ordinary people, bearing in mind the leniency often displayed to real criminals, such as those who threaten/use violence, are caught carrying weapons, burglars, those who kill whilst driving recklessly, to list just a few examples.
My Lord,
ReplyDeleteYou make interesting points however, in general terms, judges sentence offenders using government guidelines and much of the time, their hands are tied.
When I say judges have commonsense, I mean in the context of percieved local authority generated crime......You do not need a degree in law to know what flytipping is, what wrong the law was meant to prevent and that the case in point is not really flytipping.....It is clearly a case of a council trying to raise revenues and a council giving too much power to someone to daft to exercise that power in a sensible manner.....I suspect many councils rely on the fact that if you give too much power to jobsworth they will become over zealous and thus increase revenue for the council concerned.
As I have said before on here; in many ways, the criminal justice system in this country has become merely an extension of HMRC.
Regarding Gary/Mr Potato Pead;
I would only give my name and adress to a real police officer as required by law to do so.....I would just walk away from a PCSO or any other hi-viz clad jobsworth/council official.
Typo;
ReplyDeleteShould read Mr Potato Head not Mr Potato Pead....Sorry!!
"to daft" should have read "too daft"
I often watch the news from the UK on TV.
ReplyDeleteI have often seen people leave plants by the side of the road, along with teddy bears, football shirts, balloons and other assorted crap.
Think of how many people went ‘fly tipping’ when Princess Diana died.
Of course judge can differentiate. A policeman should be able too. As for Council workers, well they are just a bunch of wankers.
Know your rights and don’t let anyone abuse them.
Tonk said:
ReplyDelete"I would only give my name and adress to a real police officer as required by law to do so.....I would just walk away from a PCSO or any other hi-viz clad jobsworth/council official."
I was surprised to learn that even a police officer cannot demand your details unless you are in charge of a vehicle or suspected of committing an arrestable offence - and it must be arrestable.
Of course if you don't comply they'll probably use any one of nanny's nasty little catch-all laws as an excuse to arrest you - farting with intent or something like that.
I'm guessing, from the phrase "left them in a colleague's parking space" that this was not in the road but in a carpark. I'm further guessing that this carpark belongs to the council (where else would jobsworth be prowling) where Ms Colleague works, since she has a reserved space and that Mr Mayes works for that same council.
ReplyDeleteHe may have paid up just to avoid hassle from his employer.