UK University student fined £80 for dropping matchstick on Oxford pavement
So the power-tripping secret environmental minions pounce with their little badges, fine you 160 bucks, and this student actually rationalizes it. Because it’s a new world after 9/11, you see, and this is JUST THE WAY THINGS ARE DONE NOW, because dropping matchsticks is supposed to bring out the STASI, and we’re just lovin’ it. Don’t believe you’re going to be a serf? That is why you fail.
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The Daily Mail
November 9, 2009
An Oxford University student has been fined £80 by a street sweeper for dropping a matchstick on the pavement.
Smoker Demetrios Samouris, who was stopped while shopping with his girlfriend in the city centre, described the fine as ‘quite harsh’.
The 22-year-old said: ‘It was only a match. But I guess all rubbish has to be treated equally, whether it is a matchstick or a sandwich wrapper.’
However, environmental enforcement officer Natalie Hughes explained: ‘People just don’t think what they are doing is wrong. That is what we are trying to address.’
The student fell victim to the council’s ‘zero tolerance’ crackdown on clearing up Oxford’s litter-strewn streets.
The street wardens, aided by Police Community Support Officers and enforcement officers are in the middle of a campaign to clear litter off Oxford’s streets as part of the city council’s ‘Cleaner Greener Oxford’ initiative.
Speaking after being handed the fixed penalty, Mr Samouris described the fine as harsh but he said he understood why tickets were being issued to litterbugs.
‘It is a bit irritating because £80 pounds is a lot of money. Even though it drops to £55 pounds if I pay it within 14 days, I can’t really afford it.
‘It’s quite harsh. It was only a match. I try not to drop cigarettes and would never leave other rubbish on the street.
‘But I can’t really be that angry. I do understand what they are doing and I guess all rubbish has to be treated equally, whether it is a matchstick or a sandwich wrapper.’
Eleven penalty notices were handed out by street wardens on the first day of the campaign.
Graham Eagle, the city council’s public health team leader, said he was delighted with how efforts to spruce up the city were going.
‘From our point of view it is all about changing people’s attitudes.
‘As well as targeting people dropping litter, this campaign is also an appeal to everybody to play their part,’ he said.
‘We are trying to instill pride in the city. We are all working together and each of us needs to take personal responsibility to bin litter.’
Environmental enforcement officer Natalie Hughes is used to targeting offenders. She was a police officer in her native Australia before moving to Oxford.
She briefed the team ahead of the patrols at the city council?s offices in Ramsay House, in St Ebbe’s Street.
Ms Hughes said: ‘We are going for absolutely zero tolerance as we attempt to decrease the incidents [sic] of littering.
‘We have had various initiatives in areas like Cornmarket, with a number of new bins being installed, but the message has not got through to some people.
‘We need to change attitudes. People aren’t trying to deceive us in many cases.
Street warden Betty Workman, who patrols the streets of Rose Hill and Littlemore, has been drafted into the city centre as part of the campaign.
‘I don’t understand some people’s mentality when they just drop litter. Sometimes it easier to put the rubbish in a bin, yet it still ends up on the street,’ she said.
City council chief executive Peter Sloman added: ‘We are committed to creating a cleaner greener city and this campaign is not a one-off.’
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