Drop 10 stitch up 50?

[Finless]

I had to laugh ............. in fact I'm still laughing. I really should just stick to doing the crossword in the newspaper when I visit my Mum's but, no, once again I am "ouraged from T/Wells" ...............

The TaxPayers' Alliance - Media Coverage: Daily Express: Fined £50...for dropping a tenner

Somebody PLEASE tell me this was a joke?


[edit]For those of you that know this story from last week(?) I would like to reiterate that my Mum saves the papers for me to do the crossword over my lunchtime sarnie so I never see 'today's paper'.

[Woz]

"A force spokeswoman said: “An individual was seen throwing papers on the street. When he was approached and spoken to about it, he recovered the money he had thrown away but repeated his actions with the papers. He was therefore ticketed.”

Deserved it, if this was the case.

As with most newspaper stories, it pays to read the whole thing before getting on your soap box.

[Finless]

"A force spokeswoman said: “An individual was seen throwing papers on the street. When he was approached and spoken to about it, he recovered the money he had thrown away but repeated his actions with the papers. He was therefore ticketed.”

Deserved it, if this was the case.

As with most newspaper stories, it pays to read the whole thing before getting on your soap box.

Soap box? What soap box? I berated no one. I asked for clarification that the report wasn't 'what it read like'. I saw the headline in the paper, read the first paragraph or so (short of time) and then searched online when I got back to work. It would appear my span of attention AND memory are failing; I could have sworn I read ALL of the online report. Perhaps, in future, I'll read stuff from the bottom up ............... it could work?

I'm not near a soap box honest .................. oh oh, the soles of my platform shoes are made up from old soap boxes?



I think you'll agree they are nicely detailed?






[edit]Oops, in the excitement of seeing some killer shoes, I forgot to say that I quite agree with you that he should have been fined if the final statement is correct.

[Finless]

I wonder if all these reports are similarly biased?

The 10 most ridiculous fines of all time | 10SitesToSee



With an army of pettifogging bureaucrats policing your every move, you better think twice before you eat, talk, drive and even relax… the list is almost endless. Here we list ten ridiculous but true stories where the authorities have demonstrated their limited grasp of common sense…

1. Sausage rolls

A picnic in the park turned into an expensive event for Mum Sarah Davies, from Hull. While feeding her four-year-old daughter a piece of sausage roll fell to the ground. The missed-mouth incident was spotted by council wardens and Ms Davies was fined £75, even though pigeons immediately ate the evidence.

2. What a load of rubbish

With photographic evidence and stab-proof vests, Cumbria council’s bin police confronted Gareth Corkhill with the terrible crime of … putting too much rubbish in his bin. The father of four was given a whopping £210 fine, plus a £15 victim surcharge and he now has a criminal record.

3. Oops…

Litter lout Christopher Murphy dropped a single crisp packet on Irish soil and ended up in court with a 600 Euro (£480) fine. While the term litterbug is no doubt a bona fide insult, this is an example of where the fine perhaps doesn’t match the crime.

4. Trying to be creative

Pretty hearts and rainbows may seem innocent enough, except if you work for north Wales police. Two teenage girls from Bangor were charged £80 for “graffiti” after drawing chalk pictures on a pavement, Mary Poppins style, which were completely washed away by the rain soon after.

5. Keeping the kitchen tidy

Nowadays using a public bin can get you into trouble. Detectives hunted down pensioner John Richards from Lincolnshire after he carefully placed some household rubbish into a bin on a lamp post. They traced Mr Richards from an addressed envelope that was in with the kitchen scraps and accused him of fly-tipping, which attracts a fixed penalty of £75.

6. Putting your feet up

Getting comfy on a Chester-bound train can get you a criminal record. Babiker Fadol put his feet on a train seat and was arrested for anti-social behaviour, despite taking his feet down as soon as he was asked. After appearing at court charged under the 1889 Railway Regulations Act, he was forced to pay £50 and was given a criminal record.

7. Keen to help the environment?

You still won’t escape the wrath of Swansea’s eagle-eyed council officials. Michael Reeves made a grave mistake when he accidently left a piece of paper in a recycling bag reserved for glass. He was promptly taken to court and fined £200 and swears he’ll never recycle again.

8. A quick fag

Fancy a quick ciggie in your break? Think again if you’re in the taxi trade. A lone fag cost cab driver Alan Cross £715. Mr Cross was spotted smoking a cigarette in his taxi by a Thurrock Council Enforcement Officer. The matter went to court and he was slapped with £300 of fines, £400 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

9. Defrosting the car on a winter morning

One cold winter morning Ken Hardman from Lancashire nipped outside to his car, turned the engine on to defrost the windscreen and then returned inside to wait. A local police officer charged him with “quitting” (leaving a car unattended with the engine on) and fined him £30.

10. Answering a phone call safely

Unlucky Nick Tubbs was fined £120 for the crime of … speaking to his mum on the phone. He was driving in Westminster when his mother rang so he diligently pulled over to the side of the road to take the call. He spoke for one minute and 23 seconds then immediately drove away. Sadly for Mr Tubbs, Westminster council tracked him down from CCTV footage and accused him of “parking” on a single yellow line.

[Finless]

It took a little searching but I couldn't leave the Daily Mail out of this, especially as lots of you are so partial to it. I wonder if the DM is the DIR equivalent of the press world?

Tickets to rile ... We reveal the ten most unreasonable parking fines of all time | Mail Online


The pit-stop ambush
Lorry driver Michael Collins was on his way to collect a skip in London's Belsize Park when the road beneath him collapsed. A burst water main had created a deep hole where the front wheels of his 17-tonne lorry were now stuck.
While he was waiting for roadside assistance, a parking attendant appeared. To the astonishment of nearby residents - and despite Mr Collins' protests, she stood on tiptoe and plastered a parking ticket on his windscreen - while helpfully telling him: "You can appeal".
The trunk road swoop
If a tree fell on your car and you escaped death by inches, you might expect some sympathy from your local council. But there was no sign of compassion from Wychavon District Council for Nicky Clegg of Stoulton, Worcs, after when a tree crashed down on her car as she drove her 82-year-old mother and 11-year-old son.
Police dragged the wrecked car - with crushed bonnet, smashed windscreen and broken wing mirrors - to the roadside and told Mrs Clegg she could leave it there and pick it up the following day. When she came back, a parking ticket was stuck on the window.
The knock-down surprise
Think that being badly injured is an excuse to park illegally? Think again. When Nadhim Zahawi of South London was thrown from his scooter and left lying in the road with a broken leg, a heartless warden from Lambeth Council slapped a £100 ticket on his bike.
The cavalry attack
You leave your horse in the street and what do you expect to find when you get back? A small pile of manure perhaps, but not a parking ticket.
Yet this is exactly what happened to Robert McFarland, a retired blacksmith from Yorkshire, when he left his horse Charlie Boy for a few moments.
Under the vehicle description on the ticket, the over-zealous warden had written "brown horse".
Scroll down for more...
You've been ticketed: A warden prepares to issue a fine. But some attendants take rather less care over details, as our list shows

The daylight robbery
It was a terrifying ordeal for Fred Holt, 77, when he went to the bank and two masked men burst in brandishing an axe and a machete.
The robbers held the axe to a young cashier's throat while money was handed over, and the customers were forced to lie on the floor. Later, they had to give statements to police.
It seems traffic wardens had not listened when officers told them about the raid and asked them not to issue tickets. Mr Holt found a £30 parking ticket pinned to his windscreen for staying 20 minutes longer than allowed.
The donor kebab
"Do something amazing today" runs the slogan of the National Blood Service. In Sutton, a traffic warden did just that - by ticketing a blood donor lorry.
The mobile National Blood Service truck had parked at the same spot in Sutton, Surrey, for four years when the zealous parking attendant issued a ticket while donors gave blood inside.
Sutton council eventually waived the fine, saying the parking attendant had made a simple error of judgment. Or to put it more aptly, a rush of blood to the head.
The bus stop gambit
Manchester bus driver Chris O'Mahony pulled up at a bus stop in his No 77 to let passengers on. While he was handing them their tickets, a Manchester City Council parking attendant handed him one.
Passengers looked on in disbelief as the warden joined the queue to prepare the parking ticket, deposited the £40 notice and walked off.
The driver, apparently, had parked in a restricted area. The attendant said he'd been told to issue tickets to buses that park.
Council bosses cancelled the ticket and the warden was sent for retraining - hopefully as something other than a warden.
The heart attack attack
David Holmes felt chest pains as he was driving and headed for hospital, where he was forced to park on the roadside and was treated for a heart attack.
A nurse thoughtfully left a note on the windscreen explaining the emergency and saying Mr Holmes's daughter would pick the car up later.
It proved futile. A parking attendant slapped a parking ticket on the car and despite an appeal to the local council the £40 fine was not cancelled.
The random posting
Krister Nylander was dismayed to receive a parking ticket in the post for parking in Warwick.
But he knew the ticket had to be wrong - he lives in Sweden and had not visited England since he was 16.
The offending vehicle was his 20-ton snowmobile, which had barely ever left his barn, let alone Sweden.
How did it get the ticket? Absolutely no Ikea.
Driving home the lesson
A driving instructor was issued with a CCTV parking ticket when his pupil stalled while attempting a three-point turn and could not restart the car.
The offence? Parking more than 50 centimetres from the kerb.

[dry suit diver]

in the OP , he broke the law and was fined for it. whats the problem.

most of the stuff in the big rant people had broke the law and were punished for it.

the dailymail rant, well what can i say, how many were appealed and won? again if you can prove legitimately you had to stop or park then you can appeal and generally you win.

I got a fixed penalty for "stopping" in a yellow box junction, I appealed as the 3 photos all a few seconds apart show me moving and the vhicle not stopped. I won.

had I actually stopped I would have been pissed off but paid up.

its quite simple really- don't break the rules you don't get punished.

[Finless]

the dailymail rant, well what can i say, how many were appealed and won? again if you can prove legitimately you had to stop or park then you can appeal and generally you win.

I can't be bothered to check but wouldn't you say those people had genuine cause to complain. It specifically mentioned in one case that the appeal was rejected.

From my own experience (in Hastings) the first response to any appeal is an immediate rejection of the appeal and usually to the second appeal. When I followed it through to the 3rd appeal with a demand to know/correspond with the head of .................. etc.

its quite simple really- don't break the rules you don't get punished.

It's quite simple really, it is an accepted axiom that rules are there to be broken. (I'm not certain axiom is the correct word I'm looking for? Any pedant assistance would be gratefully received ).

AFAIAC parking retrictions are generally enforced over officiously and have little to do with road safety or traffic flow and more to do with earning money.

I don't agree with the rules!

Of course that is a wild overstatement but ........ for the sake of this POV ............. I'll stick by it.

[dry suit diver]

I can't be bothered to check but wouldn't you say those people had genuine cause to complain. It specifically mentioned in one case that the appeal was rejected.

From my own experience (in Hastings) the first response to any appeal is an immediate rejection of the appeal and usually to the second appeal. When I followed it through to the 3rd appeal with a demand to know/correspond with the head of .................. etc.

It's quite simple really, it is an accepted axiom that rules are there to be broken. (I'm not certain axiom is the correct word I'm looking for? Any pedant assistance would be gratefully received ).

AFAIAC parking retrictions are generally enforced over officiously and have little to do with road safety or traffic flow and more to do with earning money.

I don't agree with the rules!

Of course that is a wild overstatement but ........ for the sake of this POV ............. I'll stick by it.

rules are not there to be broken, thats th sort of answer you get from a teenager

dunno about Hastings, but most boroughs in London would grind to a halt very quickly if there was no enforcement of the rules. Hve I pushed my luck and broke the rules- damn tight I have, have I got away with it- ys a fair few times, but I have also been caught and punished. like I said if you break the rules and get caught then do't whnge about it.

and 1 out of how many you posted that the appeal wasn't upheld. I bet that if you actually looked into the events behind the story you would find the real detail. but that wouldn't make a good story for the Daily wail and hexpress

[Paul_c]

yet how oftern do you see the police enforcing minor laws or actualy catching criminals? and how oftern do some jumped up little git with a uniform massivly overstep the bounderys of not only what is legal but also what is uncommon sence.



my missus was pulled up for driving around a corner to fast. doing 30 in a 30 limit yet she was driving to fast for the dry, clear conditions, in good light. she broke no laws her car is tax, insured and MOTed yet the copper was adamant she was guilty of something.

put the fear of god into her as she is a care worker and any offence can see her fired. but of course the street racers who scream past our flat at 70 every night are too minor a consideration to get rid off, the kids who take drugs in the basement of the building are the same low level consideration.



i was attending a fracture clinic in a hip/toe cast, was on crutches and had seriouse difficulty moving around due to that and the seriiuse drugs i was taking for pain meds. was at torbay hospital FC if anyone knows it.

basicaly the old man drops me off at the clinic drop off bay, and walks in with me to make sure im in ok and sat down then moves his car. a jumped up little git tries to ticket him for parking in a drop off bay despite him having a need to leave the vehicle for a few minutes (2 at the most) then he was going to move his car elsewhere and park then come back.

the funny thing is he worked for the NHS at the time and had a pass which allowed free parking anywhere on site in the car as he had technical clearance to do works. he rarely used it to park out of normal parking zones.

then he moces the car to outside of his office in a designated space for workers (remeber the permit) and the same little sod follows him down slaps another one on for parking in staff areas

and then trys it on when im getting into the car after my checkup at the FC and my dads helping me get into the car and its in the drop off zone.

surfice to say lots of complaints made and i belive he was shown the door.

its also like the stupidity of IDing someone who is evedintly an OAP for cigs n beer. ive seen it happen and the guy just didnt knw how to respond. other than with a WTF? look. the manager comes over and says that there policy is to id every 10 people for age related sales regardless of how they look. they then proceeded to serve the next lad who look about 15 witha bottle of vodka no questions asked as they had done what they had to do.

they old guy had no ID on him so they refused to serve him with alchohol.

[Luckyliz]

There is a saying:-

Rules are for fools, and the guidance of wise men.

There is a lot of sense in that saying.