I Was Arrested

A few months ago I was arrested; at least, I thought I was. Unfortunately, I live in a country where such matters are not as clear as they should be. My crime – for the want of an appropriate word – was putting leaflets on car windscreens advertising a play I am staging my local town

Having almost finished a car park in the center of Stockton, I was approached by a guy who explained that he was part of the ASBO team in Stockton Borough Council. ASBO, for those who don’t know, stands for Anti-Social Behavior Order; basically it is a legal restraint or penalty imposed on someone who has deemed to be anti-social. What exactly is Anti-social? Ah well, there has been no clear, legal definition.

The guy asked what the leaflets were for, when I explained that they were for a play to be staged at a local theater, he referred to the content of the leaflet. It reads: Stockton-on-Tees. Beware! He claimed that it might un-nerve people in this age of terrorism.

The two people I spoke to while putting out the leaflets were quite interested in why they were there. Neither of them were fearful of it being a terrorist plot. They made no comment that what I was doing was anti-social. One woman said that it was a good idea to use as reminding people about car theft!

The ASBO guy and I waited until a “law enforcer” came along – note: Not a policeman, but a law enforcer. I don’t even know what they are or to which governing body they have to answer to. He took my details and gave me a sheet explaining that I was being fined under section 87 of The Environmental Protection Act 1990. On the form, he wrote that I had committed an offense by “Disposing litter”. Since when were leaflets, litter?

The guy told me that they “catch a lot of people this way”. I pointed out that the council had put up no notices advising people that they are not allowed to distribute leaflets. He agreed that it wasn’t fair. I guess it’s just a way of them sneakily trying to get money out of us.

After issuing me with the notice, and after I had commented on proceeding throughout, he then advised me my rights, which include the right to remain silent. Surely, he should have advised me of that before I spoke to him.

Back home, I phoned The Environmental Enforcement Section of Stockton Borough Council and asked how I can distribute leaflets without incurring a penalty notice. I was told, “The best way, was to not do it.”

“Are you telling me that I can’t distribute leaflets at all?”

“Hold on.” She then went off the line to ask advice.

What followed was a series of questions by me to which the girl at the other end had to keep cutting me off to ask what her response should be. In the end, she advised me to contact the “Care in Your Area” part of the council.

“How do I contact them?”

“Hold on” When she came back on she said, “You need to phone them up.”

“Do you have the number?”

“Hold on.” She cut me off then came back on the line to say that she can put me through.

The “Care In Your Area” people promptly advised me to contact the Environmental Enforcement section – where I had just come from.

What is most alarming about all of this is that fact that there seems to be no defined interpretation of the law. This is just local authorities slying imposing their own understandings of legislation and stealing money from people’s pockets.

Its nasty and its unfair. Of course, I won’t be paying. I was not disposing of litter – which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as rubbish. My leaflets were bought for and utilized for their exact purpose. That is not litter. I shouldn’t be fined anymore than Tesco should be fined for it’s packaging that other people might drop as litter.

Now its some months later and after many emails to Stockton Borough Council to find out what is going on and demanding my day in court, I have heard nothing from them – not a single word. I have been denied my day in court and the opportunity to advertise a cultural event in my local town, and I have received no compensation for the cost incurred in printing leaflets which I was stopped from using.