Kicking rubbish onto the street

lifeandtimes

Hi,

I think I know the answer to this but thought I'd ask anyway.

I was walking through a housing estate and I saw a man in his garden kicking rubbish (a couple of cans and wrapper from crisps etc) out onto the road.

I called him on it and said he can't do that as it's littering to which he replied" its not his and had blown into his garden by the wind)

I didn't press him further as it's none of my business but it would be my understanding that nobody could prove other wise and as he is one putting the litter on the street he is culpable.

Can anyone clarify?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Ciaran_B

I do that a lot. I have no wall or gate at the bottom of my garden and rubbish blows in. I just chuck it back onto the street.

GM228

Also worth noting that you also have a legal responsibility to keep the area outside your garden including the footway free of litter if it's a public road.

How any litter got into your garden is irrelevant, once you sweep it out of your garden or property you are littering.

Ciaran_B

Is the original litterbug no longer guilty of littering in that case? Or are there now two litterbugs?

brian_t

Ciaran_B wrote: »

Is the original litterbug no longer guilty of littering in that case? Or are there now two litterbugs?

Presumably the litterbug is the one that was caught doing it.

Peregrinus

Ciaran_B wrote: »

Is the original litterbug no longer guilty of littering in that case? Or are there now two litterbugs?

There are two litterbugs. If two different people throw the same cigarette packet into the street on two separate occasions, they are both littering. One took the cigarette packet from (say) a tobacconists, and threw it in the street. The other took it from his garden, and threw it in the street. But that's not a material distinction; the littering offence doesn't depend on where you got the litter from, or whether you own it; just on where you throw it.