Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Woman fined over £900 for dropping cigarette butt
Here's 'behaviour change' with a vengeance!
A woman was fined over £900 last week for dropping a cigarette on the pavement and failing to pay her penalty notice.
Cllr Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods,said:
"People seem to think it's ok to drop cigarette butts in the street. Well it's not ok. It costs the council a lot of money to sweep up this litter and I hope this fine will make people think twice before throwing a butt away in future."
On Thursday the 5th of August Haringey Council Enforcement Officers spotted Kristina Djemal of 13 Charmwood Road, Enfield, throwing away a cigarette in Wood Green High Road and making no attempt to pick it up.
The officers were in the middle a litter patrol exercise with local police at the time.
Djemal was advised that dropping the cigarette was a littering offence and issued her with a fixed penalty notice of £75.
Despite reminder letters being sent, the fixed penalty notice was not paid, and the case was referred for prosecution.
Although Djemal failed to turn up at court on December 1st, Tottenham Magistrates found her guilty of littering and she was fined £525.00, with full costs of £382.00. A collection order was also granted, providing for bailiffs to visit the home to collect the money.
A woman was fined over £900 last week for dropping a cigarette on the pavement and failing to pay her penalty notice.
Cllr Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods,said:
"People seem to think it's ok to drop cigarette butts in the street. Well it's not ok. It costs the council a lot of money to sweep up this litter and I hope this fine will make people think twice before throwing a butt away in future."
On Thursday the 5th of August Haringey Council Enforcement Officers spotted Kristina Djemal of 13 Charmwood Road, Enfield, throwing away a cigarette in Wood Green High Road and making no attempt to pick it up.
The officers were in the middle a litter patrol exercise with local police at the time.
Djemal was advised that dropping the cigarette was a littering offence and issued her with a fixed penalty notice of £75.
Despite reminder letters being sent, the fixed penalty notice was not paid, and the case was referred for prosecution.
Although Djemal failed to turn up at court on December 1st, Tottenham Magistrates found her guilty of littering and she was fined £525.00, with full costs of £382.00. A collection order was also granted, providing for bailiffs to visit the home to collect the money.
Tags for Forum Posts: litter
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Roberty Boberty on
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*******! (Comment moderated by site admin)
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Cant help but feel that the penalty is on the excessive side. This is clearly another predatory money spinner for the Council. I don't smoke but it could easliy be a sweet wrapper blowing out of one's hand in a breeze. Does this mean I might have to run out into traffic to pick it up or, alternatively, face a huge fine if Council 'spies' are lurking in high street door ways waiting for just such an opportunity? Also, I notice it was a woman and not a 6'4" body builder that they 'selected'.
The Council's movers & shakers (lol) should be attending to the huge fly tipping, dog fouling, graffiti and pot hole problems in the borough. Not snooping on and following smokers around the streets. I never notice cigarette butts, though, on the other hand, I do see chewing gum stains on the pavement everywhere I go.
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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As usual easy pickings (and of course lucrative revenue streams) for the council, yet they can't be bothered with dog shit, fly tipping and the like. Do the council have priorities? - oh yeah it's based on income! I'd better hope I may not snap a fingernail on the streets
Yet this will please some moaning folk of this community.
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Nilgun, don't walk your dog on my road again.
Decl: Non-smoker; non-gumchewer; non-dogowner; non-phlegmhawker; non-syringe shooterup; non-condomdropper; non-mattressdumper; but may have dropped the odd iceland receipt accidentally
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Yes, Birdy, moaning me.
Moaning me who picks up people's cigarette butts out of planters, moaning me who removes and even goes to the trouble to recycle cig boxes left outside my house.
I very much doubt that the council makes huge amounts of money in these kinds of operations - the cost of cleaning up after people probably far outweighs the money made from a litter patrol.
This was not council spies lurking in doorways - have you ever actually seen one of these exercises? Short of flashing lights on their head saying enforcement officer, they are as visible as you can imagine and have local police officers with them to boot. They also often simply offer warnings or ask people to pick up the litter rather than issuing fixed penalties. Note the phrase "making no attempt to pick it up" - I suspect she was given the option to remove her waste from the pavement before they issued the notice.
Yes, she was a woman - okay for the little lady to litter then? I have seen these enforcement guys stop large men in white vans to check their waste licences, lets just say the ladies and gentlemen of enforcement are hardly shrinking violets, some are ex-police officers for example.
The woman was fined the standard rate of £75 for littering. She failed to pay and went to court. She could have saved herself all the hassle by a) not littering or b) accepting that she had broken the law and picked it up c) paying the fine.
There are not degrees of litter, some is not better than others - a fag butt is no more acceptable than a chicken box or a plastic bag.
I also don't accept that the council does nothing about the other stuff - they do catch and heavily fine fly tippers as in the recent case in Colina Mews the details of which involved chemical waste and involved several agencies.
With the budget cuts, there are likely to be cuts in the number of enforcement officers anyway, recruitment was frozen having not filled all the posts in May and they are on the list for cutting - a shame since they were really starting to make headway in tackling persistant offenders and having a consistent plan for enforcement with some proper joined up thinking - so you will probably get your wish that they leave the small fry alone as there won't be any one to do the job anyway.
With a thousand council staff facing redundancy including good effective people who care very much about tackling environmental crime of all sorts, I think we should be a bit careful with statements like "Do the council have priorities? - oh yeah it's based on income!" at the moment I would suggest it is more about protecting frontline services like childrens centres, adult social care and housing.
If you want to see what the local enforcemen officers priorities actually are you can find them here hmmm, dumping, dog poo, fly boarding...looks like they do know what the problems are after all.
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You are inordinately protective of the Council. Are you an employee or an elected member?
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No, I never have been a member of Haringey Council either as an employee nor have I ever sought election. I am not a member of any political party. I would not 'protect' the council over anything that I thought they were doing wrong but I am acutely aware of the fact that many good people are facing redundancy - despite what some may maintain, there are excellent people working for the council who really give a toss, as in any organisation.
I am, however, in possesion of the facts about how the enforcement service works and what they are trying to do because I became a community volunteer in a practical effort to try and do something about environmental crime in the neighbourhood. This means that I have spent some time learning about and critiquing the system directly with those who are trying to run it. Sometimes the boss comes out of our meetings ashen faced and exhausted - CVs do not mince their words.
Forgiveme I can't help but smile. There are some who may read what you have just said and laugh uproariously. Come and meet me at the HOL Social on the 15h and I will tell you tales as may change the perception you have formed that I am something to do with 'protecting the council'
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Bait taken without even a thought of sniffing or chewing it.
Unbalanced, disproportionate, bullish, jobsworth.......the council?
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