Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey council fines pub goers for dropping cig butts...in Crouch End
From the Haringey Independent
Three smokers have been fined for throwing cigarette butts on the street outside pubs and clubs.
The trio were slapped with fines of £75 each during the operation to tackle cigarette butt litter and illegal street trading.
Haringey Council officers carried out the operation alongside Stroud Green Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) in Crouch End after residents complained. (well I've complained and publicly)
Pubs and clubs had previously been reminded to place cigarette litter bins outside their premises for customers to dispose of cigarette butts.
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 dropping litter is punishable by a fixed penalty of £75 or prosecution, with a maximum fine of £2,500.
more here
You will of course note WHERE this operation took place...perhaps we'll see enforcement outside the Salisbury and checking the bookies very soon? What do you think?
Three smokers have been fined for throwing cigarette butts on the street outside pubs and clubs.
The trio were slapped with fines of £75 each during the operation to tackle cigarette butt litter and illegal street trading.
Haringey Council officers carried out the operation alongside Stroud Green Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) in Crouch End after residents complained. (well I've complained and publicly)
Pubs and clubs had previously been reminded to place cigarette litter bins outside their premises for customers to dispose of cigarette butts.
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 dropping litter is punishable by a fixed penalty of £75 or prosecution, with a maximum fine of £2,500.
more here
You will of course note WHERE this operation took place...perhaps we'll see enforcement outside the Salisbury and checking the bookies very soon? What do you think?
Tags for Forum Posts: cigarette litter, enforcement, litter
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
-
As much as I think this is welcome, easy targets for the SNT, very little work needs to be done and you could fine many folk outside any pub in the country. Cigarette butts are way down my list and dog poo and fly tipping is a bigger priority for me personally and would urge them to try and catch and prosecute these not so easy targets.
-
Permalink Reply by Liz on
-
Fair enough, but over half of all litter picked up is cig ends and by tackling the apparently small matter of the cig butt,you send a message out that it is unacceptable to drop litter. Litter breeds litter, I'm afraid, and where there are ends, papers, boxes and other rubbish soon follow.
In areas where they have been very tough on even the apparently small matter of dropping cig litter, there has been an improvement in overall levels of cleanliness and attitudes to rubbish. It is hoped that such a zero tolerance message sends out bigger ones about respecting the streets.
Of course there must be bins, ashtrays and a good attitude from the public places where people smoke...I commend the landlord of the Old Ale who provides outside ashtrays and ash bins on his outside tables. The result is less rubbish around his establishment and a better image for his pub, so he wins and so do we.
By sending out strong messages to the many, the few hard core (and they will always exist) are then more easily tackled through fines and intervention. For many. simply telling them to clear up publicly could be enough to make them think twice.
-
-
Matt responded to this thread thus:
"Next?: smokers doing community service, cleaning up butts from streets."
Sorry Matt that picture was out of order, please don't try and post it again. Your comment is retained above
Nobody is preventing people from smoking or suggesting there is anything wrong with personal choices made about your own health. The point is that being a smoker doesn't give you the right to litter anymore than eating a chicken leg in the street or drinking in the park means that you have the right to discard your rubbish once done. Smoking, eating, drinking in public is about personal choices, chucking litter around after is against the law and you should be fined for it. However, it would be preferred if they made the choice themselves to dispose of the results of their public consumption in the bin and not on the floor. A lot of my and your tax money is spent clearing up after people, I would prefer it if that money was spent on better things than picking up cig ends, dog poo or old mattresses because frankly as grown ups you should be picking up your own waste and not leaving it for mummy council to sweep up.
-
Permalink Reply by Danzigger on
-
Two issues with this:
What's the Safer Neighbourhoods Team doing chasing litter louts. Shouldn't they be tackling stuf that's, you know, dangerous?
"over half of all litter picked up is cig ends" Really? By mass or by volume? I suspect that might be true only as a count per item. Ten cigarette butts on the pavement are less litter than one discarded coke can.
Having said all that, good. I'm glad they were fined for chucking their litter about and it should happen more often. But outside a pub in Crouch End? Were these fearless officers of the law hiding in a bush, or did they just happen to be there? How about tailing a gang of youths from a fried chicken shop on a Saturday night? But they would be too hard because the youths might get aggressive, or run away, and probably wouldn't have £75 anyway, and they'd give false names and addresses and the whole thing would be a waste of time and effort.
As B2 said, it's an easy target. I doubt it'll make any difference to overall levels of littering
-
-
D, I could be tedious and go and find the figures for you but I suspect your eyes would soon glaze over but surely the point is not the size of the litter but the fact that it is there at all. It shouldn't be about whether a coke can is worse than 10 butts, its about not having the impulse to throw it down in the first place. And this is a bigger problem now that smokers have to smoke at the door of establishments (not discussing the pros and cons of that, please start another thread if you want to) where a lot of cigarette related rubbish can accumulate over a nights drinking.
I'm not sure we should assume that beered up people outside Crouch End would be any more pleasant than beered up people down here. I am glad that there is support for this kind of intiative, why have laws if you don't enforce them with the law?, and am hoping that similar things happen here. We have this tendancy to think this is petty, easy stuff but small steps can encourage bigger changes...
-
-
Yes. I completely agree, and I'm glad they were fined. However (and I'll admit I've got no evidence to back this up) I'll bet that patrons of pubs in Crouch End drop a lot less litter than kids who buy take-aways on Green Lanes. So if the Safer (Cleaner, Nicer, Less Crappy) Neighbourhood Team wants to reduce litter, I'd suggest that a sting operation outside any fried chicken or kebab place on any night of the week is a more effective step to take.
-
-
The fact that these are extremely easy pickings says it all to me, lazy policing IMO. If these were in addition to constant successful prosecutions for fly tipping, dropping larger rubbish and dog poo I would welcome these prosecutions even more.
As danzigger says, butt ends and even chewing gum are dropped far more than any other item I would image, but the blots on the landscapes are still larger items of rubbish, fly tipping and dog poo.
Unfortunately most people’s priorities aren’t cigarette ends.
Just my Euros worth any road.
-
-
The Safer Neighbourhood Team is guided by our directing their priorities. Can I suggest that people make suggestions here about this. I'd be all for that.
Matt I refer you to this video posted by Danzigger and then get back to me later. Please watch all the way through before you reply
-
Permalink Reply by rahman on
-
I wish Harringay got to the point where the only thing left to do to make the area pleasant was to fine people for dropping cigarette butts. Lucky Crouch End residents!
and I am intrigued to know what this removed picture was of now! naked butts? hmmm, i guess i'll just have to leave it to my imagination now. :D
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
