Overkill much?
Fined how much for doing what?
A woman says she was “shocked” when she was fined £150 for tipping the remnants of her coffee down a road gully in west London.
Burcu Yesilyurt, who lives in Kew, said she thought she was acting “responsibly” when she poured out a small amount of coffee from her reusable cup down the drain rather than risk spilling it on the bus she was about to catch to work.
But to her surprise, she was then stopped by three enforcement officers at the bus stop near Richmond station and fined under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Who were hanging out waiting for someone to pour a bit of coffee into a drain?
I wonder if they’re aware that all the coffee that people brew ends up in a drain one way or another.
Richmond-upon-Thames Council said its officers “acted professionally and objectively” and that the fine was issued in line with its policies.
Its policies of having no coffee in the sewer system??? They might as well have laws against peeing.
Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 makes it an offence to deposit or dispose of waste in a way likely to pollute land or water, including pouring liquids into street drains.
So what happened to the “likely to pollute” bit? How is a bit of coffee in the bottom of a cup likely to pollute land or water?
It seems odd, given the quantity of road crud (oil, petrol, rubber, paint, animal excrement etc.) which goes into storm drains, but they aren’t actually connected to the sewage system. Rainwater collected from road drains (with all its pollutants) goes straight into rivers without being treated.
It seems to me that there was more than a touch of the “Let’s pick on an easy target” motivation in accosting the woman.
Well, sure, it may not seem like much, but what if everyone poured their coffee down the sewer? What then? What would all that caffeine do to the poor little fishies?
Which makes me wonder if all those orca* tipping boats over were trying to shake off the coffee jitters.
*What’s with the red squiggly line under orca? It’s an English word, Spellcheck.
Only three officers? I guess they’re backing off a bit after the Linehan Affair.
Henry and George are at home nursing hangovers.
WaM I think Spellcheck meant it should be orcas after “all those”. One orca two orcas.
At the school where I worked, there were huge signs telling everyone not to dump coffee, soft drinks, or anything but water into the sink. I decided one day if that was the case, I would just dump the rest of my coffee in the trash can. No one said anything…but the signs stayed where they were. In the bathroom, of all places, where we went to pee out the part we drank.
Well anything Richmond can do, Wales can do:
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/mum-who-put-envelope-public-32592220
There are several news stories from this summer from local councils or police being over zealous:
https://www.news18.com/viral/bizarre-uk-woman-fined-for-littering-in-village-she-hasnt-visited-in-years-aa-9140581.html
https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/other/woman-32-fined-600-for-littering-by-local-council-after-piece-of-cardboard-flew-out-of-her-bin/ar-AA1NWH9f
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/woman-fined-400-council-after-8021519
I have seen one story about a mother being fined for littering, because her baby dropped a sock from her pushchair! (Sorry cannot find link).
The UK is currently in desperate need of a reboot!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg435gg66gpo
Seems the powers-that-be don’t like being in the spotlight!
Since my other posting vanished, some other stories of stupidity:
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-given-400-fine-picking-25955880
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/council-bin-police-drop-envelope-32599720
https://britbrief.co.uk/politics/westminster/woman-fined-150-when-wind-blows-cardboard-from-full-bin.html
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/bromley-mum-felt-like-criminal-30163717
There was a story about a mother being fined for littering after a sock fell out her child’s pushchair. (Sorry, cannot find link).
Ophelia,
I originally wrote “orcas” and got the red squiggly line, so I changed it to “orca” thinking that it might be one of those animals that don’t change form in the plural.
(I wrote my original comment on my laptop; I’m writing this on my phone and it recognizes both orca and orcas.)
Ya when you asked I wondered the same thing so I checked to make sure. Two three many orcas!
Freeminder – sorry! It didn’t vanish, it was just held for approval because links. I was reading about Ayoub Khan so I didn’t see the hold right away.
Freeminder, some of that reporting is highly suspect. The woman fined for allegedly dropping a cigarette in a village she had allegedly not visited in a decade – she is described as being a resident of Kent in the UK, but also as living 3,000km from her parents in- Swanscombe. In Kent. Unless Kent has inexplicably grown in every direction since I last visited in March of this year, nowhere in Kent is more than 80km from any other places in Kent.
For tigger:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/i-was-fined-for-dropping-a-cigarette-in-a-town-i-ve-never-b-316541/
Please see the map. She was a resident of Staffordshire.
This story and others I checked them out on several news sites before posting. The ones in Wales were featured on television and radio news and I added the very recent one because it occurred close to where I live and was reported widely across the UK.
You are entitled to question. I do not appreciate being called a liar.
Hey hey tigger didn’t call you a liar. Posting suspect links can be and often is accidental.
I’m sorry, I wasn’t questioning your integrity, Freeminder, I was questioning the reporting after reading the article at the link.
Nowhere in the UK is 3,000 km from anywhere else in the UK. The country simply isn’t that big. More like less than a third of that from one end to the other. And it would take less than four hours to drive from anywhere in Staffordshire to Swanscombe (unless there’s a disaster at the Dartford crossing). It’s a little island. Not as little as Ireland, but small and crowded.
@tigger,
I think you’re misreading the article. It says that the woman was 300 km away, not 3000 km.