But after a show in the Longmarket on Tuesday, Ken was approached by a city council employee who told him that if the playing card was to drop off the building he would technically be littering and would be liable for a £100 fine.
A dejected looking Ken - who has weaved his street magic as far away as Tasmania - walked away saying it would be the last time he played there. A senior council officer has defended the authority's decision to admonish Ken Lightfoot.
Larissa Laing, head of housing, community safety and environment services, said: "The council's street scene inspector spoke to Mr Lightfoot to advise him that if he causes litter as part of his act, he is just as liable to receive a fine for littering as anyone else. He was not asked to leave and no caution or fine was issued."
13 comments:
It would technically be littering, I guess, but actually littering and a cause for a fine only if he left it there on the ground.
The magician is overreacting.
You're right in that littering is only littering if the object if left on the ground. Otherwise it is 'throwing' or 'dropping'. I can imagine a street warden running out every time a pass doesn't go to hand in a game of rugby.
I don't think he's overreacting at all. He didn't throw a fit he just said he wouldn't perform there anymore. I wouldn't either.
And yet another case where bureaucracy supercedes art. Fine world we live in.
Feeling just a tad melodramatic today, Patrick? No one is preventing Mr Lightfoot from performing, no one is forcing him to change what he does. What most likely happened was that a city employee saw someone throwing cards in the air and reminded him that he mustn't leave any of them behind, because that would be littering and could earn him a fine. I can understand him being a little irritated and insulted, but his reaction and the fact the whole episode is international news is absolutely ridiculous.
I'm always melodramatic, as such it doesn't have to do with feelings, per se. However, it seems you are a bit unaware at how much street performers (myself included) get harrassed in the UK. And, in my personal opinion, the bureaucrat's involvement is what seems ridiculous. The proper course of action would have been to wait until the artist drops a card, then kindly remind him to pick it up as otherwise it could be considered littering. In what I would call a more civilized world, it would be the bureaucrats who have to wait on the populace, not the other way around. And as said, melodrama is part of my nature, so pardon me for not being a robot either... ;)
Sure, the street warden's actions were odd and unnecessary - if he went and warned all the potential litterers on the streets, he wouldn't have time to do anything else at all. It would be interesting to hear his version of the events, though. In any case, counting this as harassment and a reason to never perform in Canterbury again seem a little overblown to me. But then again, Mr Lightfoot is an artist and melodrama may very well be part of his nature too.
I witnessed the whole thing. He was told not to throw the card at the end of the act. That part of the act is an integral part and the whole act could not be performed without throwing the card, so Ken packed up and left. He could not possibly have carried on. Read this article which is where it all came from.
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011-1/july/28/magician_ken_lightfoot.aspx
Brian Thompson
Brian, if he indeed was told not to throw the card at all, that changes things. But that article (which was already linked in the original post) doesn't prove what happened, it doesn't even interview anyone who was there to witness the thing. There's a second hand account from the phone salesman supporting Lightfoot's version of the event (since he wasn't there) and the warden's boss being all official and evasive (since she wasn't there), neither side being very convincing.
If you really witnessed the thing, and everything really happened like Mr Lightwood is said to have said, I would need to change my mind about this. But then you could be anyone, claiming anything, or you could have misunderstood what the street warden meant just as Mr Lightwood could have misunderstood that. Lots of things are possible, and I remain skeptical - that is part of my nature.
If you go to the link I gave you that is me in the photo! Iheard and saw everything!
Mine was a first hand account. I am the mobile phone man!
Sorry to go on but the story has become slightly diluted. He was told quite catagorically not to throw the card. The warden told me that at some point in the future a gust of wind may blow it off the roof and then it would become litter! Technically he was right, as I told Alex from the newspaper, but come on how ridiculous is that?
Phone me on 07714215698 if you want me to confirm anything else.
Sorry Brian, I didn't make the connection you were the actual Brian the phone salesman. (Or claim to be, I'm not going to call you just to make sure, I guess I'll take your word for that at least.) The article doesn't paint you as a first hand witness though, it just reports you saying what Mr Lightfoot said. Why did you need to ask him what happened, if you saw and heard yourself what happened? Of course it's possible, even probable the situation continued and the warden explained himself again and you were there then to hear that. But that was not in the article and is just speculation on my part.
I'm not trying to be difficult here, just being maybe a little too skeptical, which is a lot better than being too trusting. Getting outraged over these type of stories is usually silly because the stories tend to be exaggerated and the outrage in them often imagined. But if that is not the case with this story, then I am outraged too, and join hissing and booing at the stupid warden.
And I agree, as I've already said, that the whole thing is completely ridiculous.
Cheers. at least i have put the record straight....another cock up by Canterbury council.
Post a Comment