The Litter Police.

[scatlond]

I hate the litter police.

A new anti-litter strategy has been unveiled by Glasgow City Council.

Amidst great fanfare and wall-to-wall publicity, this week the bright sparks at Glasgow City Council have been trumpeting their 'Clean Glasgow' campaign and the employment of a new army of litter enforcement officers as part of this strategy.

With talk of on-the-spot fines of £50 for dropping litter, the question has to be asked though: is this kind of practice legal?

The short answer is no. The 'Great Charter' signed by King John at Runnymede in 1215 - still UK law and fully in force - states, and I quote:

"For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his livelihood...None of these fines shall be imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the neighbourhood."

Notwithstanding the fact that a £50 charge for littering is clearly disproportionate in relation to the degree of the alleged offence, it is simply not legally possible to impose any fines whatsoever without 'the judgement of your peers', i.e. trial by jury.

That people actually pay such so-called fines willingly - ranging from parking to speeding and now littering - which are in essence simply an additional local government tax raising power, masquerading as a penalty charge, is one of the great little tragedies in this country.

Citizens of Glasgow would be well advised to send these hucksters demanding money with menaces away with a flea in their ear. Your city council was elected under a mandate to represent and serve the electorate, not become - without any permission or public consultation whatsoever - a practitioner of crime and an agent of illegal punishment against the populace.

The Council is also rubbing its hands with glee at the prospect of making £16 million worth of savings in their litter collection budget. Unless they are planning mass redundancies within their Cleansing Departments (wont that be popular!) how exactly are they to effect these savings?

Glasgow City Council has a number of problems it needs to tackle, particularly the failing, short-sighted, big-business friendly, regeneration games it plays, whose extensive grassroots shortcomings in actually making a real difference in the lives of the majority of ordinary Glaswegians, particularly the poor, were recently highlighted by the think tank Demos.

Cleaning up Glasgow is one thing. But the high-handed imposition of highly excessive, ridiculously inflated penalty charges against a struggling and impoverished populace should indeed be very low down in Glasgow City Council's list of priorities at the moment.

Employing a heavy handed band of 'litter cops' to deal with a minor problem - and cleaning up millions in savings and mass redundancies at the Cleansing department in the process - is clearly not the way ahead.

Do you have " the litter police" where you are, what do you think of it, not what do you think of litter.

[dreamweaver]

Do you have " the litter police" where you are, what do you think of it, not what do you think of litter.

Yes, it was contempt for this this growing army of "bottom inspectors", as I like to call them, that started me off on this journey before I even got into Icke. I thought it was a NuLabour thing at the time - creating armies of jumped-up power-tripping busybodies in public sector non-jobs who would vote Gordon Brown to stay in a job.

But of course it runs much deeper than that, particularly with Common Purpose and their masters.

[scatlond]

They wear bullet/stab proof vests.???????????? The next time I see someone being "detained " by the litter police, i see it regularly.I am going to walk up and start talking to the victim, to see what they do, they may become the conversation police.

[captainresin]

We have dozens of signs up around Maidstone stating you will be fined for dropping rubbish, I believe it £75 pounds here but I may be wrong.
I'm sure most, if not all of the visitors to this site know that littering is wrong, disgusting and slobbish, yet we must remember that there will always be those who think it is acceptable to disrespect our environment by dropping their crisp packets and cans of coke everywhere. It makes me sick when I see people outside of my school just leaving their rubbish on the floor by our beloved grassy bank we go to at lunch times, so angry in fact that I often feel it necessary to pick up other people chip wrappers and fag packets and put them in the bin which is approx 5 meters away. Obviously the multiple packets of Walkers they consume every day must inhibit their ability to properly utilise the bins.
There is also a major problem in our common room, where people just leave their rubbish on the floor and lying around, expecting others to pick it up. Do they do this in their houses, expecting their submissive parents to pick up after them? This just makes me so mad when there are literally bins everywhere in this shared common room. I remember when I was being brought up (not very long ago but I am old enough now to look back retrospectively and appreciate) my father would make sure I knew to put rubbish in the bins, maybe I was just gifted but surely you would have thought that responsible parents would make sure their kids know to put rubbish in bins?
So to conclude, whilst this new initiative may be impinging on our freedoms and may just be another way of working towards common purpose I think it is about time that some of these *rse-holes learn that it is NOT ACCEPTABLE to drop litter.
Edit - After re-reading the OP I do not think that the idea of "litter police" but the fines put in place act as a good deterrent. Littering has got to make you sick though.

[scatlond]

I am not talking about littering. A friend of mine dropped a cigarette end on the pavement before going into a shop, when she came out of the shop she was stopped by 2 litter police who said they had been watching her from a car.

[bones]

i dont like litter droppers at all. but at the same time i hate statutes also.
i have to admit though its not about the litter its about the revenue and control.

but ppl need to be aware that dropping litter is a untidy unsightly mess and from an early age children need to be told that dropping litter is just dam wrong.

but as a freeman what would be the common law crime to drop trash?

makes you wonder.

[captainresin]

Ah well thats a whole different story, are they civillians or council workers or what? What happened to your friend?
One of my mates who had some pretty long hair had a similar experience when he was seen flicking a butt out of his car window by the police. He got a fine in the post, but managed to get out of it as the fine stated that it was a woman driving and he was humorously just a dude with long hair.

[scatlond]

Ah well thats a whole different story, are they civillians or council workers or what? What happened to your friend?
One of my mates who had some pretty long hair had a similar experience when he was seen flicking a butt out of his car window by the police. He got a fine in the post, but managed to get out of it as the fine stated that it was a woman driving and he was humorously just a dude with long hair.:)

My friend gave her name and address to the litter police. 2 weeks later she received a confirmation letter from the corporation, unfortunately for them the "arresting officer" had spelt her name incorrectly so she ignored it and hasnt heard anything since, about a year ago.

As far as I am aware they are employed by the city council environmental services. Our local newspaper the Glasgow evening times, which imo is common purpose soaked, published pages of the names and addresses of offenders under the headline These Louts Are Costing Us £16 Million, the £16 million is the citys annual cleaning bill.

For the record I am not a litterer, I would take a crisp packet home if there wasnt a bin nearby.




From the city council environment services.


Litter is a blight on the streets and open spaces in Glasgow and action is being taken by the Clean Glasgow Team to encourage all who live, work and play in the City to improve things.

Clean Glasgow Campaign.


Litter Wardens have recently been engaged to patrol Glasgow and their role is to issue fixed penalty notices (£50) in terms of the Environmental Protection Act to people who litter. This includes cigarette ends and chewing gum.



Our policy is to issue fixed penalty notices to all who are seen to litter the streets and open spaces of Glasgow and our wardens are under instruction to issue a fixed penalty notice even if the offender offers to pick up the litter. In the event of non payment the case will be referred to the procurator fiscal who will probably impose a higher fine or may take the matter to court where a fine of up to £2500 can be imposed.

[kaledonioi]

Ok so i was issued one of these fines.I understand what i did was wrong had i been given a warning or treated with a little respect i might have paid up or listened though on principal they won't get a cent from me.I have a young son he'll get the fine of £75 from the fiscal after the warrent is issued.I'll use it too buy him clothing or whatever he needs.Has Kalim Uddin Operations Manager of Service Devolopments in Glasgow ever walked the streets of glasgow on a saturday night i take it the pub and club scene is disregarded from this issue as there are thousands of people pingin fag ends left right and center.I don't see them acting on this.As far as i'm concerned Glasgow Community & safety Services & the fiscal can kiss my A££ warrent issued or not i'll do time if need be nuff said :D This is also a good lesson too my son as too keeping your principles on cival liberty & not letting people like you lot mess us around.Warning people first would be a good option as i'm gonna cost you more than a £2500 fine that you'll never see a penny of that'll keep me goin on prison tea for a week lol i might not beat the system but i'll feed off it.You wanna throw your weight around then watch me as i do the same.

Glasgow Community & safety Services don't make me laugh my boy is being brought up in a concrete jungle of heroin abuse and heroin dealers that the police won't do anything about & neither will the local council instead these people will be delt with by me. I will be sorting out the heroin dealers that thrive next door regardless of the consequences if they can't fix the problem then i sure as hell will.Rant over i gotta get ready for some real spit in your face work love too see the police running the security on my doors Kalim Udder (ooops Spreadsheet error there lol) might like too give it a shot as i'm sure theres money too be made on all the smokers in glasgow.In the words of a local heroin addict & pub watch police scheme abuser i know get it up ye Kalim Uddin you'll never see a penny from me on my son's life & in the end a bit of prison time over a fag end'll be worth it yep thats right folks breakfast lunch and dinner on you lot lol a total waste of tax payers money but isn't that what your there for neway With kindest regards Mr Robertson.

Litter is a blight on the streets and open spaces in Glasgow yea so are the heroin addicts scum bags & idiots can't you build them a kennel or something.How about you fine the heroin addict beggers say 2 gram of smack a week lol you'd make more off the product than you do off the people & it's win win you get smack off the streets & into your own dirty little pockets :D

p.s i think your patrol guards are in need of some extra schooling as there spelling mistakes are offal cyaz in court :D:D

[cafetimes1991]

Haven't seen any in Ireland as of yet. I have to be vigilant not to be seen by a traffic warden when I'm putting up Palestinian flag stickers though.

[smoke n mirrors]

As a man subscribing to the free man philosophy it is very unlikely that this would be an issue. There is no honour in disrespecting your environment. The cause for concern is, some people need to be educated about freedom and the sense of honour required.

If people went about their daily lives with honour, it would be very difficult to implement new regulations such as this.

Local government, also need to be reeducated as to their role in serving the people!

The Free Man philosophy, is an ideal vehicle to achieve both of these aims. IMHO

[noir]

As a man subscribing to the free man philosophy it is very unlikely that this would be an issue. There is no honour in disrespecting your environment. The cause for concern is, some people need to be educated about freedom and the sense of honour required.

If people went about their daily lives with honour, it would be very difficult to implement new regulations such as this.

Local government, also need to be reeducated as to their role in serving the people!

The Free Man philosophy, is an ideal vehicle to achieve both of these aims. IMHO

I agree so much with what you said. I will add that I think "flicking a butt" or throwing a cig on the ground is littering.

[scatlond]

Yes that is littering. Still dont like the Litter Police with their stab proof vests and checked hats.

[scatlond]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f92Dcg3OYWY

[h2pogo]

i can understand why its wrong to drop litter in the countryside but dont cities get cleaned...
having lived most my adult life in spain i habitually drop rubbish in the street.. if i didnt i would be doing the street cleaners out of a job.
dont they clean the streets any more..if not what do we pay taxes for..(other than wars,cctv,prisons,police ect)

[noir]

Just due to people getting paid to pick up after you does not mean you should add to the trash. It's your city, you should take pride in it, enough to want it to look the best. i.e. clean.

[h2pogo]

Just due to people getting paid to pick up after you does not mean you should add to the trash. It's your city, you should take pride in it, enough to want it to look the best. i.e. clean.

i think the vibe of a city is more important to most spanish rather than how clean the floor is...the street cleaners do a wonderfull job over there though
cities with a good vibe , clean streets and its ok to drop litter.
:D

[lordzoma]

the litter police should just pick up the fucking trash and throw it in the bin themselves.

[rydeon]

Yes, it was contempt for this this growing army of "bottom inspectors", as I like to call them, that started me off on this journey before I even got into Icke. I thought it was a NuLabour thing at the time - creating armies of jumped-up power-tripping busybodies in public sector non-jobs who would vote Gordon Brown to stay in a job.

But of course it runs much deeper than that, particularly with Common Purpose and their masters.

While the tory's aren't no1 they certainly don't run common purpose, that's a left-wing marxist entity at root.

[broccoligarden]

Its time for those medieval 'Stocks' to be brought back into action!!!!
Public humiliation and a few rotten veggies to the head is perfect!:D