Man sued for dropping orange peel wins court case against council

Posted by: admin , July 7, 2015

A British man has won a legal battle against a local council after it took him to court for “littering” when he accidentally dropped a piece of orange peel.
It’s reported that an enforcement officer from Broxbourne Borough Council saw Luke Gutteridge drop a piece of orange peel the size of a 10p coin (approximately 1 inch/2.5cm in diameter).
Even though Luke immediately apologised and binned the peel, he was fined £75.
During the hearing, Magistrates accepted the argument put forward by Luke’s lawyer, Dr Michael Ramsden, that littering is only an offence if there is proof that it was intentional – which was not evident in this matter.
In addition to its own legal costs of approximately £4,000, the council may also be liable for Luke’s legal costs of £4,000.
Luke says the incident was a “waste of taxpayers’ money from the start” and suggested the council pay the costs “from its own pockets”.