the litter act, what a joke

damo

i recieved a notice in the post the other day that i was being fined 125 euro for throwing the end of a ciggarette out the window of my car on gardner st in dublin, someone had reported me to the cops when they saw me doing it at a traffic light and took down my registration. this same person was also willing to testify in court should i refuse to pay the fine.

now im not a violent person at all.....but id really love to get my hands on this person and (if its a male) smack him around and then take 125 euro off him to pay the fine with, i mean what kind of ****ing low-life would actually take down my reg and go to the guards over something like this? obviously someone with nothing better to do with their ****ty life than to go around getting hard working honest people like myself fined for the most minute offence, i wonder how many cig butts were thrown out of car windows in ireland on that day, not to mention how many were thrown on the pavements by people, and this asshole had to ruin my day and get me fined 125 euro? talk about a needle in a haystack

not that im pro-litter or anything but jesus christ a ciggarette but is hardly litter seeing as people come to sweep the streets every morning, im sure the one i threw out the window that day ended up in a bin somewhere....what a sick joke

Victor

haha

Prozium

That's the same attitude that all people that throw litter on the ground have. And that's why our city is f*cking disgusting.

unkel

damo wrote:

what kind of ****ing low-life would actually take down my reg and go to the guards over something like this?

It was a litter warden...

Imho €125 for throwing a cigarette butt out the window is ridiculous. How much were members of the travelling community charged for the cleanup bill for Bushy Park last summer?

Dingatron

Nice to see it's working anyway. So many laws aren't policed it makes a refreshing change.

woosaysdan

i hate it when people throw rubbish out of cars, one day i was driving down the road and the car ahead of me just threw a bag of rubbish out of the window and kept driving!!! i reported it to the guards but never heard anything back

seamus

damo wrote:

i mean what kind of ****ing low-life would actually take down my reg and go to the guards over something like this?

I would. No doubt you throw your cigarettes out while the car is moving too. You probably don't check to see if there's a motorbike behind you either. What if you're doing 70 down the motorway, you throw a cig out the window, it lands in a motorcyclists eye, and wham, he's dead?

Sounds implausible doesn't it? But the way in which air flows around a car means that when you throw it out, it moves around the side of your car, to the back, and flies backwards almost dead straight and dead centre to your vehicle. Twice I've had cigarettes bounce off my jacket, and once off the top of my helmet.

If I saw you do it, I guarantee* I'd drag you out of the car and beat you to a bloody pulp.


Not a guarantee

smoke.me.a.kipper

doesnt your car have an ashtray?

Tiriel

ashtray!!!

MadsL

I would.................I guarantee* I'd drag you out of the car and beat you to a bloody pulp.

Nail > Hammer > Head

Capt'n Midnight

damo wrote:

this same person was also willing to testify in court should i refuse to pay the fine.

now im not a violent person at all.....but id really love to get my hands on this person and (if its a male) smack him around and then take 125 euro off him to pay the fine with, i mean what kind of ****ing low-life would actually take down my reg and go to the guards over something like this?

So it OK for you to assult and rob someone because you think you should be able to break the law and get away with it. And you expect sympathy..

And it not like you're the first person to be fined for littering, and it's almost certainly not your first time littering.

MrPudding

Did you learn anything?

MrP

unkel

seamus wrote:

What if you're doing 70 down the motorway, you throw a cig out the window, it lands in a motorcyclists eye, and wham, he's dead?

How the hell would the motorcyclist get the cig into his eye? Surely he / she is wearing a helmet?

Anyway, very aggressive responses showing intent of violence from both original poster and others. This troubles me

There is not a chance you will get a fine for littering for throwing out a ciggie from your car based on a person's personal evidence unless it is witnessed and reported by either a Garda or a litter warden...

Eye

Exactly what seamus said

I've had a couple of them hit me on the bike too, never would think of taking the reg to the local cop shop, must try and remember to do that in future

No sympathy for you whatsoever mate, pity the fine is'nt bigger

seamus

unkel wrote:

How the hell would the motorcyclist get the cig into his eye? Surely he / she is wearing a helmet?

Yes, but you don't always leave the visor down, particularly if it's dark or poor visibility. Plenty of helmets also have no visor.

Eye

Open face helmets are fairly common, more so with people on crusiers than sports bikes, i've got one myself but very rarely were it, don't get the best weather in this country for open face helmets and too much loose chippings on the damn roads here too .... oh and did i mention idiots throwing stuff out of car windows? :eek:

rander00

Thats nasty. Some loser with nothing better to do. U`d wanna be a fair prick to report someone for that. The nob that reported you, is probably a **** driver, and it would suit these knuckleheads to watch the road, than to annoy guards with such trivial ****e.

You should fook the fine out your window and just say you never received it. And then give up smoking,,, its proving expensive for ya. Hee hee.

Capt'n Midnight

rander00 wrote:

Thats nasty. Some loser with nothing better to do. U`d wanna be a fair prick to report someone for that. The nob that reported you, is probably a **** driver, and it would suit these knuckleheads to watch the road, than to annoy guards with such trivial ****e.

You should fook the fine out your window and just say you never received it. And then give up smoking,,, its proving expensive for ya. Hee hee.

What makes you think it was a driver that reported damo ?? Most people in this country don't own cars and if you are a pedistrian waiting to cross the road and some muppet tosses out a fag at the lights, you ain't going to respect them.

And this attitude of "someone will sweep the street in the morning" next someone will say it's providing employment. It's not - it's just wasting someone elses time. BTW: the fine is higher than that for many motoring offences, which indicate the severity officialdom treat it - Guards don't make the law. Or you could be cynical and say it's to generate revenue. In either case yer man was caught rotten.

In Singapore they have banned chewing gum and the litter fines there are steep..

Mayshine

Don't cigarrette butt make up a fairly large proportion of litter on our streets. Why not have a little respect for your city and dispose of it properly.

While you might not think much of it, it is that same attitute that thousands of smokers have and that is one of the (many) reasons) why Dublin is a grimey, filthy place.

Pay the fine and stop moaning, noone here has a whole lot of sympathy for you and TBH the city need less people like yourself who have an arrogant and lazy attitude towards its cleanliness :mad:

therecklessone

damo wrote:

obviously someone with nothing better to do with their ****ty life than to go around getting hard working honest people like myself fined for the most minute offence

You forgot the bit about the why aren't the gardai out catching real criminals...

:rolleyes:

Victor

therecklessone wrote:

You forgot the bit about the why aren't the gardai out catching real criminals...

Thats what litter wardens (employed by council) are for.

eoin_f

sorry there buddy but as a full time driver (sales rep) i have to say hard luck to you, is a pian in the ass for you but in fairness you cannot argue with this outcome. everyone in dub recognises that we have a problem with litter and littering, drivers are a large problem through cig butts being expelled from the vehicle, crisp packets, tissues etc, it goes on and on, personally i would have honked you and given you dogs abuse, do you honestly thing you were in the right to throw your litter from your car window?

yes it was only a small cig butt but pennies make pounds and one cannot argue that what you did was worse that a fridge/freezer dumped down dunsink, its all in the same class. I know i dont know you and dont mean to accuse you of being a mass dumper of litter but it must be a black and white situation as regards tryin to keep the country clean. nobody enjoys wading through litter, we spend enough time giving out about it.

Shame you feel bad about it but in fairnes would you not yourself give out and complain about pollution, and by any chance do you use bottle banks or any recycling facilities about you? may seem like a hard slap but in reality if you dislike the state of pullution/littering we suffer from you would prob be the first to give out to yorself.

Personally i find it amazing how many people i know that dont think twice about dropping a cig but or bit of gum and turn about and criticise our refuse collecton system or the state our cities are in (litter wise, social is another one all together!)

E. :eek: :eek:

Mayshine

How would you feel if I started throwing my rubbish in your car?? Maybe you should stop throwing your s*hit in my city?

Moron

unkel

seamus wrote:

Yes, but you don't always leave the visor down, particularly if it's dark or poor visibility. Plenty of helmets also have no visor.

Anyone driving a bike at 70mph without a visor or with the visor up is a fool imho. Never mind a fag, Imagine what a stone chip or a bird would do :rolleyes:

People seem to be missing the point I've made twice already. No member of the public can report you for littering without further proof leading to a fine. Only a litter warden or a garda can do this!

seamus

unkel wrote:

Anyone driving a bike at 70mph without a visor or with the visor up is a fool imho. Never mind a fag, Imagine what a stone chip or a bird would do :rolleyes:

A bird? At 70mph, visor up or down, a bird is going to **** you up.
It's a necessary risk when driving a bike.

Jip

damo wrote:

i mean what kind of ****ing low-life would actually take down my reg and go to the guards over something like this?

Anyone else see the irony in this ? A litter lout calling someone else a lowlife for reporting him littering ! Tut, what was he thinking, how dare anyone report you for throwing stuff onto the street ! :rolleyes:
The person who reported you didn't neccesarily go to the guards, in fact they most likely reported you to the litter warden, and fair play to he or she.

Sleipnir

What? You littered and have been fined for littering? It's not a fair cop?
Or is it that because it was a fag-end it wasn't 'really' littering?

Oh, the streets are swept so it's okay to throw stuff on the road?
That's why our streets are so clean then.

FX Meister

At least now you will cop on and quit dumping rubbish out your window. Were you afraid to get your ash tray dirty? Or too lazy too clean it? I see people do this every day and it really pisses me off, maybe I'll start to report them for it too. And it happens with all types of people and cars, from bangers to the spa I saw do it in a €125,000 Merc last week.

Prozium

I once seen a guy dump his ashtray out the window on the M50 one day when he thought no-one was looking. SCUMBAG.

Turner

Victor wrote:

Thats what litter wardens (employed by council) are for.

Maybe the gard had caught too many real criminals that month and decided to catch a few decent people

Victor

unkel wrote:

People seem to be missing the point I've made twice already. No member of the public can report you for littering without further proof leading to a fine. Only a litter warden or a garda can do this!

Actually, I'm not sure about this, AFAIK the burden of proof for littering offences has been reduced below the criminal "beyond a reasonable doubt".

Zaph0d

Years ago a friend of mine borrowed my car and I got his litter fine in the post afterwards. He was just as angry as the thread starter. We sat down and estimated the number of hours driving he had done in his life and how many fags he smoked per hour while driving. He felt better when he realised he had dumped many thousands of cigarettes onto the streets and this was his only fine.

Some cigarette smokers are responsible for a large proportion of Irish litter. They start by ripping the cellophane top off the box, then chuck it on the ground, then rip out the foil pull-tab and chuck it on the ground, then chuck 20 cigarette butts on the ground and then chuck the box on the ground. Why should non-smokers pay for cleaning this up?

FX Meister

Victor wrote:

Actually, I'm not sure about this, AFAIK the burden of proof for littering offences has been reduced below the criminal "beyond a reasonable doubt".

Victor is right, a girl I worked with told me how her boyfriend had been done for throwing his fagbox on the ground, the postman told him to pick it up, he told the postie to fu*k off and the postie reported him and he had to pay the fine.

unkel

FX Meister wrote:

Victor is right

Nope. Think about it. Mr A doesn'lt like Mr B and reports him to the Gardai for littering. Can't be proved either way as it is Mr A's word against Mr B's word. Not really fair or is it?

If there is evidence of litter and it can be tracked back to Mr B, that is of course a different matter as there is proof

See
here for the details

You can be issued with an on-the-spot fine by a Litter Warden appointed by your local authority or by a member of the Gardai.

mike65

You know I wish this forum had a swear box!

Anyways if you break the law and are caught then you have no-one to blame except yourself. The law is right including when its wrong. I am an enthusiast for litter enforcement. This is a foul dirty country, so much so when you come across an area or village that makes an effort to keep the place clean and tidy it really sticks out.

Mike.

unkel

mike65 wrote:

The law is right including when its wrong

That sums it up nicely

However a legal system is only sustainable over time if it is seen to be reasonably consistent and fair. Laws must also be enforced

So on the one hand randomly and rarely fining people for polluting at the lowest possible level and on the other hand seemingly doing nothing about major organised criminal pollution like the example about the travellers or dangerous medical waste in illegal landfills does not help sustain that system

BrianD

Serves you right damo. Bout time little louts like you were dealt with. Do you know how long a cigarette butt takes to decompose?

MadsL

Interesting point. If I throw an apple out of the window is it littering because it is biodegradable. Does the same therefore applies to rollups!

seamus

MadsL wrote:

Interesting point. If I throw an apple out of the window is it littering because it is biodegradable.

Yes it is still littering.

unkel

Oi Mike, were you editing my post? :eek:

Don't think you changed anything, did you?

FX Meister

Ok well I guess that the authorities involved in this were just bending the rules then? And then they were bending them when the other guy that started this topic was busted?

Upon closer inspection doesn't that link just say "You can be issued with an on-the-spot fine by a Litter Warden appointed by your local authority or by a member of the Gardai.", so they issue the fine, not the person spotting you littering. Surely if you did litter you wouldn't want to challenge the fine and end up having to pay a €3000 fine?

unkel wrote:

Nope. Think about it. Mr A doesn'lt like Mr B and reports him to the Gardai for littering. Can't be proved either way as it is Mr A's word against Mr B's word. Not really fair or is it?

If there is evidence of litter and it can be tracked back to Mr B, that is of course a different matter as there is proof

See
here for the details

tinofapples

Good enough for you , that's what your ashtray should be used for .

jlang

Serves you right. Now just be thankful you don't drive a company car or you could be done for smoking in a workplace too. If it is a company car, start being very quiet now.

Personally I can't see how people can afford to smoke even without any the litter fines.

damo

im not denying the charge for a start, and i know litter is wrong, but i see people litter every day and i would never report anyone, i dont know the person, i dont know their financial situation, i dont know whats going on in their lives, i just wouldent ever do it. i wonder how many of you who have criticised me for my offence have walked thir dogs down the street and let them take a crap on the pavement, as far as im concerned thats real littering and that deserves a fine (i still wouldent rat someone up for it).anyway it doesentt matter, i think the person who reported me was a real scumbag and no ones views will change my opinions

Victor

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BrianD

damo wrote:

im not denying the charge for a start, and i know litter is wrong, but i see people litter every day and i would never report anyone, i dont know the person, i dont know their financial situation, i dont know whats going on in their lives, i just wouldent ever do it. i wonder how many of you who have criticised me for my offence have walked thir dogs down the street and let them take a crap on the pavement, as far as im concerned thats real littering and that deserves a fine (i still wouldent rat someone up for it).anyway it doesentt matter, i think the person who reported me was a real scumbag and no ones views will change my opinions

Damo you have an odd view on life ... no wonder this country is in a mess!! I suppose you would step over the body of a run over pedestrian or quietly ignore the grannie being mugged?? If I say you littering and could identify you I would be onto the relevant authorities asap. Their financial position is irrelevant.

I hate the word "scumbag" but your actions and opinions clearly put you in that category in my opinion.

SantaHoe

Wow, more high horses here than at the grand national. :rolleyes:
Nobody is perfect, not even the self-proclaimed boards.ie morality police.
I don't disagree with the points made, but the condescending tone of some of the posts here is enough to make me puke.

Anyway, a good question was asked there earlier... do you think it'll stop you throwing butts in future?
I'm increasingly careful about butt disposal in the last few years, I know some people who've gotten on-the-spot fines for dropping ciggarette ends on the ground... even if you're dropping the butt into an already existing pile of other peolpes butts.
Usualy I just stub it out, fold it into a ball and keep it in my pocket until I can find a bin.
As seemingly unfair as it is to be made an example of, eventually enough people will know someone who's been fined and people will think twice about where they toss rubbish.

A few days ago I was out in a lovely patch of woodland in a county that shall remain nameless, and there was bits of cars, lawn-mowers, bags of refuse... destroyed an otherwise beautiful little woods... now I'm not pointing any fingers, but surely there are bigger fish to fry in all fairness.
Personally I'd rather see people being put to work on these already existing destroyed sites than wandering around the streets of Dublin looking for people who may or may not drop a reciept out of their pocket while fumbling for bus change.

And what about that ashtray damo... I'm puzzled.

LFCFan

One of my pet hates is people throwing butts out their car window. It's disgusting, adds to an already terrible litter problem and is done by people with little or no regard for their environment. It's not like they don't have an alternative. ie. The Ashtray in the car??????? Why not use a device for what it's meant for? Other posters talk about going after the bigger fish when it comes to littering and this is true, but I think Zero Tolleration for litter louts is the way to go. If we can stop the small fry dirtying our streets it may start a new acceptance in Irish society that Littering is wrong. It should start with educating kids on the subject.

egan007

damo wrote:

i recieved a notice in the post the other day that i was being fined 125 euro for throwing the end of a ciggarette out the window of my car on gardner st in dublin, someone had reported me to the cops when they saw me doing it at a traffic light and took down my registration. this same person was also willing to testify in court should i refuse to pay the fine.

now im not a violent person at all.....but id really love to get my hands on this person and (if its a male) smack him around and then take 125 euro off him to pay the fine with, i mean what kind of ****ing low-life would actually take down my reg and go to the guards over something like this? obviously someone with nothing better to do with their ****ty life than to go around getting hard working honest people like myself fined for the most minute offence, i wonder how many cig butts were thrown out of car windows in ireland on that day, not to mention how many were thrown on the pavements by people, and this asshole had to ruin my day and get me fined 125 euro? talk about a needle in a haystack

not that im pro-litter or anything but jesus christ a ciggarette but is hardly litter seeing as people come to sweep the streets every morning, im sure the one i threw out the window that day ended up in a bin somewhere....what a sick joke

YAHOO!!!!!!!

Seth Brundle

headline in todays Oirish Times:- Dublin is dirty, dear, dangerous, EU survey told

Jiji

I support you Damo, I have been done myself twice for the cigarette butt thing.

Although I agree that throwing a cigarette butt is a bad thing and is - minor - littering, what I disagree with is firstly the level of the fine.

BUT, the issue at stake here is a culture of delation and denunciation.

I don't think this is a good thing in society, and it is not limited to littering, howz my driving, etc...

There are already 1800 number for the revenue, go snitch on your neighbor, etc...

This is generally a bad thing in my view, the enforcement agency fine you, that's fair, but a culture of denunciation is something else.

Jl