Friday, June 12, 2009

Police fine man £50 for dropping £10 note in the street

Police doled out a £50 fine to a man who dropped a tenner in the street. Unemployed Stewart Smith, 36, had just bought a £3 T-shirt at a charity shop when he accidentally dropped the £10 note and his receipt.

He walked on a few yards before being collared by two beat cops, who hit him with a £50 fixed penalty fine. Stewart, of Dalrymple, near Ayr, had borrowed £20 from his mother Sheila on Tuesday, the day before his benefits were due.

He said: "I had come out of the Capability Scotland shop in Ayr with a £3 T-shirt. I had £17 change so I put the seven pound coins in my front pocket and tried to put the receipt and the tenner in my back pocket. I must have missed the back pocket and both of them fell to the ground. I walked on four or five yards and I heard a policeman say, 'Hey son, wait a minute.'



"I said thanks and I bent over and picked the tenner up. He said I was littering and that I was getting a spot fine. I couldn't believe my ears. The tenner and the label were lying on the ground together. There was no mistaking what had happened.

"I'm completely skint and I certainly can't afford to go chucking tenners around. The fine's a week's cash for me to feed and clothe myself and pay bills."

The ticket gives him 14 days to pay up to South Ayrshire Council. He has consulted a lawyer to see if he can fight the case. Stewart, who was collared on Newmarket Street, said: "I made an honest mistake and I will be contesting this."

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