Splendid Isolation

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.