Dogs don’t shit in Blackburn
Bucko over at Fuel Injected Moose submitted a Freedom of Information request.
He was interested in the activities in Blackburn and Darwen Council area. Apparently the litter police are handing out fines left right and centre, and there have been complaints from the public that the fines were not only for trivial “offences” but seemed to be targeted in particular at smokers.
So Bucko asked for a breakdown of fines by category.
Litter – black bag = 2
Litter – cigarette = 4113
Litter – food = 16
Dog fouling = 26
Litter – other = 110
Litter – printed material = 9
Smoke free = 151
Okay, we can make some assumptions from this. We could construe that there are 200 smokers for every dog in the area? We can also assume that the locals are extremely tidy with their take-away wrappers and coffee cups? Or maybe – just maybe – there is some truth in the rumour that the company involved [Kingdom Environmental Services ] is actually targeting smokers.
Kingdom seem to have a bit of a reputation. In particular the BBC Panorama lot seem to be watching them all the way from Maidstone to Liverpool.
So they make little “bonuses” for every ticket issued and can make up to a grand a week extra. Now they could just pick someone at random and follow them in the hope that they’ll drop something like a bit of orange peel? Or they could follow someone walking a dog in the hope that the dog will have a dump? Or maybe it is just easier to follow a smoker who is advertising his presence by a whisp of smoke and do him for dropping a bit of ash or a fag end?
When all else fails, screw the smoker.
Easy money, eh?
Bucko has his full take on this little gem on his site.
Why people volunteer personal details to these twonks is a mystery, or perhaps its the years of training to kowtow to authority no matter what form it takes.
John Blackman, 27 Hillview Heights, Newtown, A98 FU60. Or words to that effect……. That’s me. [Contents may differ from the illustration on the package]
Thanks Grandad
Nah! Thank you.
the story of a lad who dropped a cigarette butt – and four misguided, conditioned and programmed officers trying to do their job, as best as they were able… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZlAtvo6xMA
Hah! I would love to be a fly on the wall if the lad involved appeals and gets a good solicitor.
I recall John Lennon’s lyric proclaiming that there were “Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire” – that would seem to be a good landfill site for all the litter thus collected, in fact they should reward, not fine, the litter-droppers for providing the infill material.
I had an Irish doctor for a short while. He was a bozo. While talking about Dublin he let it slip that he owned a house in Blackburn. I dropped my jaw and exclaimed,”You live in D4?”. To which he stumbled and stammered knowing that I knew what D4 meant. Thank you Ross Ocarrol Kelly
Brian,
There’s no Blackburn in Dublin. He probably said Blackrock – a rather drab southside suburb
A rather drab southside suburb? Sacrilege! Don’t let the natives hear that.
If there is only one litter warden, is his evidence considered weightier than the evidence of the person who is being accused?
It must be. After all, he has a uniform?