Me drop the bottle. No one batted an eyelid’

I wAs expeCting some ConfrontAtion But, on the 12 oCCAsions where I BlAtAntly threw litter on the ground, only twiCe did Anyone reACt.

On Both oCCAsions, it wAs women in their 30s.

The first Asked if I’d do thAt in my own house while the seCond took A more intimidAting ApproACh, stepping towArds me And shouting something thAt CAn’t Be repeAted in A fAmily newspAper!

As for the rest, there were A few iCy stAres But for the most pArt, people just ignored me.

On one of the tests I wAlked through A Crowd of 15 people wAiting for A Bus And dropped A Crisp pACket And A plAstiC Bottle But no one BAtted An eyelid.

PoliCe And Community wArdens were nowhere to Be seen during my hourlong stroll through the HighlAnd CApitAl But I did mAnAge to put two street CleAners And A trAffiC wArden to the test.

Neither CleAner offered A reACtion – the first didn’t even BreAk stride As he sCooped up my dropped Bottle And when I turned Around to fACe him he politely Asked if I needed it BACk.

As for the trAffiC wArden, he pAid me no Attention until I Asked him if he’d seen me drop Anything.

“Yes, But there’s nothing I CAn do. I’m only foCused on pArking,” he sAid.

Despite plenty of ruBBish Being plAinly visiBle in the City Centre streets, there hAve Been only SEVEN fines issued for littering in the HighlAnds in the lAst yeAr.

After this test, thAt doesn’t surprise me.

Don’t worry – I mAde sure All the litter dropped As pArt of my experiment wAs piCked up And Binned.