It's not just in the US of A that people have to deal with overly zealous officials.
Take Roy Marsh. Roy is 86 over there in Lincolnshire, England. I once considered that age to be entirely too old, but now, it seems like he's just hitting his stride.
Anyway, there was Roy, out in the fresh Lincolnshire air, and a leaf blew into his mouth.
Let him tell it: "As I was sitting there, a gale blew a big reed into my mouth," he recalled to the BBC, referring to the plant part of the grass family. "I spat it out, and just as I got up to walk away, two [enforcement officers] came up to me."
You with us so far? A piece of grass flies into his mouth, he loogs it out, and two environmental enforcers show up. They told him they saw him spitting, and he called the enforcer a "silly boy."
"It was all unnecessary and all out of proportion," Marsh told the BBC.
He was taken to court and fined $334.50, although he was able to appeal it down to $200.70.
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| Roy Marsh, dangerous criminal |
Enter Adrian Findley, a county councillor who works as a representative for Reform on Lincolnshire County Council. He told the BBC he had heard of other complaints from the area.
"[Enforcement officers] are taking it too far. ... There needs to be discretion about how they [enforcement officers] issue fines," he told the news. "If it looks like a genuine accident, then give people the opportunity to apologize and pick it up."
East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) told the BBC, however, that enforcement officers would "only approach individuals who have been seen committing environmental crime offenses."
They went on to say that the keep a close eye on their enforcement people. and that patrols are not targeted at any specific demographic.
In other words, "We'll issue citations to anyone for any silly thing."
I hope to hear from English friends that this is an aberration, and that if an old man accidentally inhales a piece of leaf, he is not headed for the Ironbar Hilton. If so, cancel my plans for lunch with Charlie and Camilla!
1 comment:
I recently read something similar about a woman who dumped the last bit of coffee out of her mug before getting on a bus - same thing the environmental police gave her some whooper of a ticket when she fought it in court I think they drew it out saying that what she did wasn’t within the intent of the law
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