‘If we don’t stand up to them they’ll walk over us’
Orange peel
Luke Gutteridge, 31, was given a £75 on the spot fine when he accidentally dropped a piece of orange peel the size of a 10p piece near to his father’s market stall in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.
The enforcement officer, employed by Kingdom as part of its then contract with Broxbourne Council, refused to reconsider the ticket even though he immediately apologised, picked up the offending peel and put it in the bin. He was cleared nine months later by magistrates after a legal battle which cost taxpayers £8,000.
Mr Gutteridge said: “I do not like littering, but if it is an accident a warning should be in place or the person should be given an opportunity to pick it up.” His mother Rita, a paralegal, said: “We approached five barristers who said that although they knew that Kingdom had got it wrong they probably would have paid the fine as it is not worth their time to take it to court.
“We thought that if we don’t stand up to them they will walk all over us.
“I don’t think money should come into it. Instead of penalising people financially they should get them to go on a litter pick, then they would not do it again.”
Mr Gutteridge, whose case is now used in training manuals for enforcement officers on what not to do, said that he would like to see more bins so people can dispose of their litter and more education to prevent it being dropped in the first place.