Scots rugby hero: Tackle the rubbish with £1,000 fines
HE was famed for his nononsense approach on the pitch during his sporting career.
But now Scottish rugby legend Kenny Logan is taking on a tough new opponent in the form of the nation’s litter louts.
The 70-times capped former Scotland winger is campaigning for MSPs to increase the maximum fine for littering to £1,000.
Currently the fixed penalty notice for the crime in Scotland is £80 – but Mr Logan has said the issue would be taken much more seriously if fines for offenders were higher.
The ex-Glasgow Warriors player was petitioning Scottish politicians outside parliament yesterday for the maximum fine to be increased to £1,000 – or 100 hours of supervised community litter picking.
Mr Logan told BBC Radio Scotland: ‘I think we’ve probably been a bit disrespectful to our country because we wouldn’t behave in our own houses by just throwing it in the corner and leaving it for months.
‘It is acceptable to throw it out the window or pull it out your pocket and throw it down.
‘Cigarette stumps are just as bad as anything.
‘I suppose at the moment we can get fined up to £80. In other countries, and in the likes of California, it’s $1,000 (£780).
‘We are looking to move that to £1,000 [in Scotland] so people actually realise it is something that is harming the countryside, harming animals and is not very nice to look at.’
Calling on MSPs to act, he added: ‘The politicians must see every time they drive their car, the mess.
‘Other parts of the world are cleaner than we are and we are one of the worst in the western world, our litter is horrific.
‘You don’t see it so much in the summer because that’s when the grass grows, but in the winter time when the grass is not there...
‘It costs us in the billions to clean our country up, so it’s something we should be getting back to – being proud of our country, not littering it.’
Mr Logan, 48, insisted political parties could unite to lower levels of rural rubbish. He said: ‘I think we are a country that can pull together very quickly and make an impact. Younger generations are the key to it because they are the future.
‘All we are doing is making this country dirty and more grimy with litter every day by just throwing it out the window.’
The Scots rugby hero, married to BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan, made the comments ahead of the Great British September Clean campaign, which begins today.
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