Here’s an absolute classic:
Furious driver throws £50 parking ticket on the floor – and gets fined £250 for littering
Of course, this is a Britishland special (clue: currency), and to be fair, the littering thing is a real problem Over There, hence the excessive fine.
The problem, however, is that if someone is found “dumping” (Brit-speak: “fly-tipping”), i.e. someone is caught emptying a truckload of old refrigerators or tires (tyres) on the side of a road or into a field, the fine for said offense is still £250 — which I put to you is not at all excessive, but in fact is inadequate. Of course, the effort involved in removing said litter in this case is considerably greater, i.e. more costly than simply picking up a discarded parking ticket.
I liked the response of a Brit farmer who caught someone dumping trash in his field, whereupon he put his tractor in gear and simply pushed (okay, crushed) the offender’s van against the stone wall. In a rare instance of actual British justice, he was not fined and when haled into court for “destruction of private property”, the magistrate basically told him not to do it again and stop being a bad boy: case dismissed, despite the anguished yowls of the fly-tipper who claimed that without his van, he was out of business. The response from the magistrate was brilliant: “If your business is fly-tipping, then the community is well rid of it.” (I wish I had a link, because the judge was actually funnier than my recollection provides.)
To return to the original offense for a moment: that excessive £250 fine for littering could be called a “spite fine”, and is very common amongst the law enforcement classes, may their socks rot and their daughters run off with rock musicians.
On the other hand, the meter maid got off lightly in that the angry motorist didn’t punch her in the face. I suspect that Milord Judge may not have been as relaxed in his judgment.
I hope their daughters not only run off with a musician but I hope it’s the bass player from the article above
Reminds me of a video I saw years ago. Police officer has pulled over an Old Codger for speeding and is writing him a ticket. The OC has a bad attitude from the get-go, but absolutely loses his mind when told what the fine will be; guy literally begins frothing at the mouth, yelling and screaming, causing his car to rock from all his thrashing about, and calling the cop every insult in the book. Through it all the cop remains calm and respectful but when the OC rips up the ticket and throws it out the window at him, he simply says, “Sir, pick that up or I’ll write you another for littering.” The implication that things are about to go even more poorly finally sinks in and the OC complies and drives off, still fuming. The deadpan look the cop gives the dash cam at the end is priceless.