Search for
Search for
Search forExeter taxpayers' cash has just gone up in smoke says dog end dropper
Thursday, September 04, 2008, 23:00
The Exeter University technician yesterday admitted a charge of throwing down, dropping or otherwise depositing a cigarette in Cheeke Street, Exeter, a few days before last Christmas.
It cost £580 to put the case through the courts, and the council failed in its bid to have Meakin, of Ashford Road, Topsham, pay its costs.
Exeter City Council's prosecuting solicitor Elaine Kale said that one of the authority's enforcement officers saw Meakin throw his cigarette on to the ground and walk away with no attempt to pick it up.
The council said Meakin accepted the offence and had been issued with a £75 fixed penalty notice.
But he did not pay and insisted that he had not tossed the cigarette away.
He was then interviewed under caution and the case was listed four times in a magistrates' court and had been due to be heard as a trial.
Vanessa Francis, Meakin's solicitor, said he did not throw the butt on the ground and "blatantly litter Exeter" but put it in a drain.
She said: "In the absence of a receptacle, it was the most appropriate place to put it.
"Mr Meakin is not someone who troubles the courts; he tries not to trouble anyone.
"He kept repeating that he did not throw it on the ground and said it was not fair. But the council operative said that did not matter.
"It got up his nose. He said to the council that he was not blatantly littering and won't do it again."
Miss Francis said the council now accepted that Meakin put the roll-up cigarette stub down the drain.
"No one would listen to him and it became a matter of principle but he does not want to drag the case out," she added.
Meakin told the magistrates: "I felt bullied by the whole thing. I was told to stand up to bullies."
The magistrates fined him £75 — the same cost as the original ticket — plus a £15 victim surcharge but did not order him to pay the council's £580 prosecution costs.
Afterwards, Meakin said: "I had smoked the roll-up. I didn't have any filters so it was 100 per cent organic.
"There weren't any bins so I placed it in the drain. I did not throw it on the ground. I don't like litterbugs.
"I normally carry a little tin to put my dog ends in. I smoke about six roll-ups a day and have smoked for 30 years.
"But this has left a nasty taste in my mouth. What a waste of council taxpayers' money."
Miss Kale said afterwards: "The city council spends £1m a year just cleaning the streets in the city centre alone.
"About 80 per cent of that directly relates to smoking — cigarette butts and Cellophane wrappers. That equates to around £20 council tax per household to remove."
The council issues about 500 fixed penalties a year.
Comment on this story