A HAIRDRESSER has been fined £80 after a receipt fell out of his pocket.
Litter officers even threatened to arrest Stewart Bernie, 60, who dropped the receipt outside a newsagent in Camden, North London.
Stewart claimed he was "treated like a criminal" when uniformed environmental officers stopped him after the receipt fell out of his pocket when he rummaged for change, the Times reported.
He had just left the shop after buying a vape, when the receipt from buying medicine earlier in the day must have fallen out without him realising.
He explained he hadn't even noticed he dropped it, and thought the two officers were coming over to ask for help.
Two more officers were positioned nearby after spotting that he had dropped a receipt onto the pavement on his way to the shop, he said.
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After apologising and explaining what happened, Stewart revealed officers became "really intimidating."
The father-of-two asked to speak to police on the phone but was told if he went to appeal the fine, he would be arrested.
So he gave his name and address and was issued with a penalty notice.
Stewart said: “Suddenly I am in this world of madness, absolute madness.”
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He is currently waiting for a ruling on an appeal he launched against the penalty.
A Camden Council spokesperson said: “Flytipping and littering are issues that our residents care deeply about and we invest £6million each year to keep our streets clean and vibrant.
"In this case a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) has been issued, which has not been paid and has been challenged – this is in process and awaiting an outcome.”
Camden, where Stewart was caught, was the fourth highest local authority for issuing fixed-penalty notices in 2018-19.
Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’s code of conduct highlights the need to maintain public support when imposing fines “by ensuring every punitive action is also fair”.
She told the Times: “Accidental littering, something that’s fallen from someone’s pocket, is specifically referred to as a scenario where a fixed-penalty notice should not be issued.”
It comes after police have issued other fines for littering and fly tipping across the UK.
Enforcement officers were captured attempting to hand out a fixed penalty notice (FPN) on the streets of Manchester.
In a video posted to TikTok, user @dangleeballsyoutube intercepted the private company, who fine members of the public for littering.
Meanwhile, last year nearly half of adults admitted to littering, and just 14 per cent pick up rubbish if they see it in the street.
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Research of 2,000 adults found 40 per cent of those who wouldn't pick up litter don't want to catch germs from it, and 37 per cent would fear it was ‘dirty’.
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