When she lit a cigarette during a family day out in Wigan town centre this week, it quickly fell from her unsteady hands and she was pounced on by a council enforcement officer. Mrs Winsland said: “It’s made me ill to think this has happened.” The pensioner was handed a fixed penalty notice by the officer ordering her to pay £80 or face being taken to court. Mrs Winsland continued: “My family took me to Wigan for a nice day out.
“But I needed to sit down because I felt unwell and they took me to a bench in the street. I lit a cigarette but dropped it because my hands were shaking. It wasn’t deliberate, I dropped it because I have had a stroke.” But the enforcement officer ignored Mrs Winsland’s pleas for sympathy and issued the fine. Mrs Winsland said: “I have a very bad shake in both hands and I still have to go to the stroke clinic a lot.
“The trip to Wigan was my first proper day out since the stroke, other than for hospital appointments. I’ve been pretty much housebound. Getting this fine has left me feeling really unwell. I’ve been having nightmares, nothing like this has ever happened to me before. It’s not about the money, it’s about the principle.” Wigan council disputes Mrs Winsland’s version of events, claiming she deliberately dropped the butt and stamped on it. Mrs Winsland’s family now plan to write to Wigan council in a bid to get the fine overturned.
3 comments:
Nightmares? What a sheltered life she must have led if receiving a ticket can give you nightmares.
I agree she should stop smoking, but I remember from the days when I DID smoke, that nothing else could settle my nerves quite the same way.
Still though, if you're that shaky, dropping lit cigarettes around is a recipe for disaster!
If she hasn't got enough sense to give up smoking as she must have been told to do by the doctors, she should be made to pay for the cost of treating her next stroke - and there will be a nest one.
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