Alan Davies, from Aldridge talks about receiving a fixed penalty littering fine after accidentally leaving his walking stick on a pathway.
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00:00Right, okay Alan, so we're in Longwood Lane in Aldridge. Just explain what's been going on, because I find this amazing really, this is incredible this.
00:09I came over, opened the boot, put the bag there, the boot there.
00:17It's not quite in the car, and I don't know if the car had moved or whatever.
00:22The bag wasn't there, sort of thing, but when I drove off it must have been there.
00:27You've looked at me earlier haven't you?
00:29So basically, what had happened, you'd gone for a walk here in Longwood Lane with John here.
00:34This is our regular walk.
00:35Yeah, this is your regular walk that you do all the time.
00:37Yeah, we all do it together.
00:38And you got your walking stick, and you got a bag with a cushion in that you used to sit on hadn't you?
00:43Yeah.
00:44But you know, you stop off and have a sit down on your cushion.
00:46That's right.
00:47And then you came back to the car, and then you were sorting the boot out, and you put the bag and the stick on the floor and you were sorting your boot out.
00:56Yeah, I was riding in the back of the car.
00:57And then you accidentally drove off and left your stick in the bag.
01:00Yeah, that's the one, yeah.
01:01And then what's happened since? You've had a letter from the council.
01:05Well I found up, and the one man said, if you put your bag on the ground, you've took it away.
01:11So basically you've had a fine, you've had a fixed penalty for littering.
01:15Yeah.
01:16Because you left your stick and your cushion on the floor.
01:17The man who'd done it, the other one, he would have found me back.
01:20Ridiculous.
01:21Well that's the old way of saying no.
01:22Yeah, yeah.
01:23And so how much is the fixed penalty for? What have you got to pay?
01:26£150.
01:27£150 for leaving your stick and a cushion on the floor by your car.
01:34He never ever got his stick back.
01:35Criker.
01:36So the one you've got now then, Alan, that's a different stick?
01:39That's a bottle of one sort of thing, you know.
01:42Yeah, yeah.
01:43So what's the situation now? Have you heard anything else from Water Council at all about this?
01:48No, no.
01:50We got in touch with you, said the next day, and what we said, stop everything, what you're thinking, let you come and get on with your job.
01:59I got fed up trying to negotiate with them.
02:01Right.
02:02They're just not negotiable at all.
02:03You can't talk to them on the phone.
02:04But you've told them the situation, haven't you?
02:06You can't talk to them on the phone.
02:07Right, yeah.
02:08Full stop.
02:09But what have they said now? How's it been left? What have they said about the situation?
02:12They're going to do me.
02:13They're going to what, sorry?
02:14They're going to prosecute me.
02:15Absolutely not.
02:16Oh, they're going to prosecute you?
02:17If I don't pay.
02:18So it's either you've got to pay, or they're going to prosecute, and that's it.
02:22Yeah.
02:23Right.
02:24Well, I mean, there's no evidence of me putting it down and leaving it, is there?
02:27No, no.
02:28And when I put it down, I didn't do it on purpose, as I would have lost it.
02:32Yeah.
02:33Well, they've got, there's pictures, aren't there, from the CCTV?
02:36Yeah, but didn't they see me put it down?
02:38Yeah.
02:39But I suppose the problem is, is they've got to prove the intention, it's the intention of you, isn't it?
02:44Exactly.
02:45Well, I said they've got to prove intent, and they've got, you know, there's no actual picture of him dropping it.
02:49No.
02:50I can't understand that, you know, they've just assumed.
02:53There's actually 10 minutes in between the photograph of him leaving and him dropping his bag.
03:00Right, right.
03:01So it's somewhere 10 minutes in between.
03:03Yeah.
03:04I don't know what's happened there.
03:05Yeah.
03:06He must have been hiding around there, I think.
03:09So, I know it's a stupid question, but what would you like to say to the council about this?
03:13How do you feel about it?
03:14Oh, no, don't ask him that.
03:16Keep it clean.
03:17There's paper round there, and we throw it on them.
03:19There's a bag there.
03:21We collect it.
03:22We don't collect the paper.
03:24We collect the beer cans, bottles.
03:26Oh, the litter picking.
03:27Yes.
03:28Yeah.
03:29Well, we do that.
03:30The children, the dogs.
03:31Yes.
03:32All the benches in there have been repaired and made.
03:33Yeah.
03:34We've done that.
03:35So it's ironic, really, that you go out litter picking, and now you've had to find the litter.
03:39All the benches up there, we've made it up.
03:41I used to carry one of them litter pickers in the back of the car.
03:43Yeah.
03:44And generally, we were picking it up.
03:45But until this happened, we've just said, oh, what the hell with it now.
03:48Yeah.
03:49Yeah.
03:50Yeah.
03:51There's just no talking to them.
03:52They just don't want to know.
03:53I mean, you won't be able to talk with it.
03:55That guy up there.
03:56The world in his throat.
03:58He stops me driving, and there's a car parked there.
04:01Mm.
04:02Why can't we park there?
04:03Yeah.
04:04Instead of here.
04:05I mean, there's some big...
04:06Crossing this road.
04:08Some night.
04:09They stop half a night.
04:10Yeah.
04:11So when we get here in the morning, we can't park.
04:14So do you think, regarding this again, Alan, do you think there's any, you know, negotiations
04:18to be had with the council about what's happened?
04:21They don't accept.
04:22We've tried.
04:23They accept.
04:24I tried on the phone, and they didn't get back to us.
04:25I've got to accept that it was put there just so I could do something in the boot, and I
04:31hadn't got the brains, the common sense, whatever, to put it in the boot.
04:35Alan and I actually had a meeting with one of the local councillors who told them that
04:40he couldn't do anything about it.
04:42Really?
04:43Yeah, really, yeah.
04:44Yeah.
04:45The councillor...
04:46Oldage.
04:47Oldage council, yeah.
04:48Yeah.
04:49That was before the last election, mind you, so we don't know who's in charge now.
04:52It's a waste of time talking to them.
04:54Well, there's all...
04:55You know, he says there's nothing he can do about it.
04:56There's nothing he can do about it.
04:57Surely he can...
04:58The council ain't put the gate up.
04:59The police met them.
05:00The police said we didn't meet them.
05:02They didn't.
05:03We told them that, yeah.
05:05Alright, well I hope you get it sorted anyway, Alan.
05:07Yeah, we do too.
05:08Good luck.