86-year-old fined $335 for littering — after spitting out leaf that blew into his mouth - video Dailymotion

Watch 86-year-old fined $335 for littering — after spitting out leaf that blew into his mouth - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00An 86-year-old man in the UK was hit with a fine equal to $335 U.S. dollars for littering.

00:09Okay, littering is bad. Nobody likes a litter bug. So why am I telling you this?

00:14Well, the litter in question here was a leaf that he spit out of his mouth after the wind blew it into his mouth.

00:25Say what now?

00:26Yes, Roy Marsh said that he stopped for a rest while walking through a parking lot in a seaside town about 100 miles north of London.

00:33That's when he says the wind blew a, quote, big reed into his mouth.

00:38He told the BBC, I spat it out, and just as I got up to walk away, two enforcement officers came up to me.

00:44When they accused him of spitting on the ground, he said he called one of them a silly boy.

00:50You go, Roy. I love a polite British zinger. And yeah, they are silly boys.

00:54Then he realized they weren't joking. Not so silly.

00:58Even so, once they realized it was a leaf, something already living outside, the fine was surely going to be dropped, right?

01:07Nope, nope, nope. He had to pay the full fine and then file an appeal that could reduce it to the equivalent of $200.

01:14And the local district council backed it up, saying that officers only approach people they see committing environmental crime offenses

01:23and that they do not discriminate or target any demographic.

01:28How about they discriminate against, I don't know, actual litter?

01:32How about they act if this isn't appropriate?

01:37Is it possible that they don't charge them to zumindest or limit their similar acts?

01:47But it could be better than podeyor?