Better not throw bread out for the birds. I might end up in Saughton.

Cameras on a van? That's not very environmentally friendly is it. Why not issue the wardens with really,really tall top hats fitted with cameras? You know it makes sense.

And why not! Slovenly individuals should be persecuted and then prosecuted in the name of cleanliness. Live on Big Bro.

Hooray!

We're getting more like Sweden every day

I love it!

tack själv domkraft!!

These idiots who drop litter deserve all they get. I was taught by my parents never to drop litter, and this lesson has stayed with me all my adult life.
These people who think it is acceptable to casually throw stuff away and make this city a filthy mess (and equally those who feel sorry for them getting a £50 fine) should have a look at themselves !

It's just a shame they won't actually tackle the main problem which is the gangs of teenagers in Princes Street outside MacDonalds - best for them to go for the safe option.

About time too. Anyone who deliberately drops litter in the street is being anti-social. You see it all the time - fag packets, sweet wrappers, drink cans. It's not as if any of these items are SO heavy that the perpetrators can't carry them home or at least to the nearest public bin (of which there is no shortage in the city centre). As for the cost of these mobile cameras, I'm sure that if the wardens do their job properly the cameras will pay for themselves in next to no time.

#6 Rather suprisingly it is the same in Aberdeen. Loads of neds and emo teenagers all tossing litter away outside the Golden Arches despite there being 2 or 3 bins within about 2 steps of them.

Yet another typical EN rant against something positive that is being done in the city. This is nothing to do with "Big Brother" but more to do with changing people's lazy habits. Why should litter wardens not pursue those in our city who have come to believe that it is OK to drop litter, just because they have been able to get away with it for so long - after all, that is what they are paid to do. As for the comments about it being a waste of money, I suppose you also think litter magically transports itself into a bin, do you?

I for one am operating a one man campaign for total disobedience. I have also found a pub where I can have a fag after all none smokers have left the premises. The landlord gives me a phone as soon as it is all clear, or it is safe to move into the lounge if I am in the premises at the time. I hate our politicians who are a bunch of egg suckers who mamby pamby all the other egg suckers.
If the powers that be want to keep oppressing the good honest tax payers, a reaction is going to happen. It is just a pity it is the local government foot soldiers that get it in the neck (which they all so deserve) and not the people at the top that make all the silly laws, rules and legislations.
(They hide behind close doors, spending our hard earn money.
A bunch of gangsters the lot of them.)

Funny, eventhough most bus shelters on princes street are non smoking, I have never seen them being policed.

It is right that they do clamp down on litter however my fear is that the will only go for the soft "targets" such as the professional office worker rather than the group of drunken neds throwing their kebab wrappers all over the streets.

What a waste of time and money these people are. I don't condone dropping litter but to pay somebody a full time wage to fine people who do is ridiculous.

#12 you are dead right mate,

these labotomised council fiends, void of judgement and a life, WILL, as consistent with ECC policy, only focus on "soft targets". The knock on effect being more disgruntled people sulking around in public, more snide sneaky sniggering sleazy wardens beaming with warped satisfaction as they bully the person on the street into handing over there hard earned cash or face further penalties, all while the neds and dopy toothless inbreds terrorise and saunter on obliviously, respectively.

I hate these big brother wardens and would like to hit them with a big stick, or slap them perpetually with a freshly caught salmon while reading the small print of one of thier fine papers to them!!!

laugh, if you dont you'll cry!

#5 Road Raga:

Clearly your parents did not teach you that it is impolite to refer to people as idiots.

Still, ho-hum.

Of course they will go for the soft targets because that is they way that they will make thier money, they will not target the neds because they know that they would get a slap in the mouth

Muppets = Council

I'm most heartened by this. I'm tired of paying for the pigs who drop their slops where they stand. The litterers should be forced to clear street litter for a week and the folks dropping fag ends should be made to eat them.

of course if the streets were filled with litter businesses would be calling for more to be done to tackle the litter problem.

if people drop litter they deserve what they get!

People read 1984!! Its arrived 22 years late!!

How come the van didn't get a parking ticket?

I would love to know what it costs the Edinburgh citizen to employ litter warden also traffic wardens. I bet it would be cheaper to employ more street cleaners and create more free parking areas. Then again they would not be giving the people a hard time ,that is the main aim of the politician.

All power to the council's elbow. Other councils would do well to follow this example.

And whilst they are about it, they can apprehend those irresponsible dog owners who fail to clear up after their "pets".

And for those who say it will cost too much time and money - let's make this all cost effective and fine litter droppers/dog foulers £1000 a time. That would soon concentrate minds.

Well, the Enforcement Officers who came with the swmoking ban have got to be paid for somehow...

I would love to know what it costs the Edinburgh citizen to employ litter wardens also traffic wardens. I bet it would be cheaper to employ more street cleaners and create more free parking areas. Then again they would not be giving the people a hard time ,that is the main aim of the politician.

#10 Davy, I ken the pub. It's in the Salters area of Dalkeith. Good for a smoke-easy.

It's a good idea in principle but it's not cost effective or practical.

The other day, I ran over an old woman's guide dog while driving my jag, it was a complete accident and I was in a hurry so I carried on driving. A pair of these officer followed me 40 miles back to my country house interupted my sitar lesson and escorted me back to the scene of the accident where they made me put the animal's limp body into the nearest public bin and then fined me.

Aren't there better things that the council could spend their money on.

I am getting fed up with the EN taking a stand on behalf of people who think they can do what the hell they like in this city - dropping litter, disturbing neighbours and polluting us with cigarette smoke.

Fewer smoke and litter wardens, more street cleaners and some proper local democracy would be a better recipe.

i eat the end of my cigarettes.

i have terrible bowel trouble.

how's about blackley decides what we can and can't do and then still finds something to whinge about

Get rid of the (jobs worths) wardens, they think the are the secret police ! where do u go to aply for a job like this ???

Davy #10 Ooohhh... yer such a rebel. Che Guevara disnae hae a lookin. Hehehehe...

Commentator, Edinburgh
Aye, I have even started to plant my own grass.
Or should I say lawn for the verbally correct, I was thinking about laying afro turf.

Hang the litter-louts! That'll affect the rest!

'One girl was stopped and quizzed after discarding the end of her sandwich'

No feeding the birds then.

Hang them live after Eastenders.

This is Magic.

And the lesson today is BEHAVE yersel and no harm shall come to YE.

Its simple really, and lets you laugh at the schemie halfwits.

#28

i suppose next you'll be blaming global warming on the smokers

these wardens are just anohter excuse for the council to get more money off us. old guy picked up a leaflet on the ground, read it, put it back again and was fined £50 for it! he didnt even drop it in the 1st place! pathetic wa888ers they are......

in a way it keeps the employment level down......... if people dont throw away litter we would have no need for street cleaners????? so my motto.............. it keeps people in a job!

Firstly, you are not obliged to give your personal details to these clowns. They must call the Police to get them.

Secondly, they should not be following you around. In all other contexts that would be known as stalking or harrasment.

Thirdly, the Council needs to wake up to what they are doing. Law is enforced by the Police, not an army of thugs.

My advice to everyone is to fight this tooth and nail. If dropping litter is an offence (which it is) then demand your day in Court! Don't pander to the jackboot mentality that prevails nowadays.

As I don't have a big brother I'm feeling somewhat left out...

Dropping litter is an indication of a person's attitude towards their responsibility for the environment. Lack of care and respect is the problem. Some nationalities have somehow managed to maintain an element of responsibility and pride in their cities. God knows what visitors think of Scotland when they see how little some of us care about our own fine cities.

One of the first things I noticed about this country after 30 years overseas is how filthy it is. Litter, chewing gum, fag ends, everywhere.

Probably not so many fag ends now, but I'm sure that there was not the same level of litter or chewing gum. The air is better though - less chimneys belching smoke.

Surely education is the answer - make our kids proud of their country rather than giving them a list of don'ts.

How about no fines, just a half day of community service picking up litter?

A little Orwellian, but nevertheless, a good awareness of despicable litter-bugs who leave the job of picking-up their bad sense of propriety to others. We take for granted our responsibilities to Mother Earth. It has come to this. Thank you.

I remember that day well
I saw the CCTV van parked on George IV Bridge.
I got my self just out side, the site of the cameras and emptied my pockets.
My heart was beating fast that was when I met a friend of mine, who I informed what I had done. The reaction he gave was tears of laughter that started me off, I finished up with a pain in my stomach and tears streaming down my face. Once we composed ourselves he checked the van and he done exactly the same thing.
I would never have done anything like that before in a million years and I don’t think my friend would have either.
I still don’t know why I done it.
I know it was wrong and a bit sad.
The laugh we had that day made it worth it.

For once this is something for which punishment, reparation and rehabilitation can all be achieved in one: people convicted of the offence of wilfully dropping litter should be made to spend a supervised morning picking it up.

The EN should give up on its kneejerk knock-the-Council stuff at every chance, and side with the decent citizens for a change. Anyone caught messing up our city for everyone else deserves to be shamed, and if it takes a fine to replace the house-training these idiots never got, then great!

The centre of Edinburgh is a mess, mostly caused by smokers. Hope the council come down hard on them, no excuse...

50. mv
Get a life, smoke a fag, drop some litter, and abuse a traffic warden.
Is that the message you are attempting to get across.
You have me confused.

#51, you must be one of those self centred lazy types who thinks its someone elses problem to clean up after them, hope you get caught soon! (#47)..

Like to see them trying this at the Fort in leith!!

52. mv
You seem to have a very radical view. It could get a lot of equally minded people, into trouble.
Have you spoken to your local doctor; I am sure he could give you some help.

You have got to let go of that hate, only then will you be able to move forward.

Of course, we shouldn't drop litter. But parents should teach that, not the local authority stazi.

Another nail in the coffin of civil socity in Britain.

Keep fining the litter bugs - particularly the smokers who seem to be the worst offenders !!

Why dont the wardens just carry ash trays.

Petrolhead # 42, "If dropping litter is an offence (which it is) then demand your day in Court! "
Please fill me in on the logic of that one. I've been caught on film commiting an offence but i'm going to refuse the fine and demand that it goes to court.

Brendan # 15, is it still impolite to refer to people as idiots if that's what they are?

Does no one here have a compromise position? Personally I think it's a good idea but the fine is too harsh.
Could somebody please tell me what evidence they have that the wardens are not fineing the neds?

Soft targets?? If you'd only look you'll see that they've taken to wearing stab vests. Don't worry - everyone gets treated equally.

has any kind soul out there, got a clue as to get chewing gum, off your shoes ,then ofcourse your carpet,Ithink it is disgusting the nerds that spit it out, I was out with my friend the other day, and when we arrived home we found gum in the babies stroller and it was not ours, we dont chew it?THAT! is so rude , I whish we noticed who it was ,but on second thoughts, we would have got more than a fine.

P.S.,you blame the smokers for everything, I, doubt very much a smoker would throw a ciggie in a child pram,whithout a thought.

NO27, is got a wonderful scense off humour, GOD! my sides are so painful, a little hint dont give up the day job ,thats if you have one?.

Maybe we should fine those who drop chewing gum, double. Let the punishment fit the crime.

lets keep mv and the likes happy by hanging all litter offenders and while were at it, lets have public beheading of smokers.though i dont know what wed do about serious crime

Totally agree with comment 6. instead of wasting the publics money on a speicial van for peeping toms with 2 cameras and the test of the equipment that they are not teling us about and of course their as they are a special force the wages for such an expierienced job will be in the high bracket. go to the troubled areas of the city and spy on the trouble makers on the estates that mke the ordinary peoples life a living hell pull them up and give them a spot fine and lets see the reaction that they will get then I think there job would become very extinct within a month.

they should fine all the p*sseheads they catch puking along lothian road and shandwick place.

dont think a day goes by that I have to sidestep a puddle of sick (or blood)

do the wardens do night shift ?maybe not ,too much trouble about .

I was under the impression that we had litter laws BEFORE the smoker ban. Why werent they enforced with this ruthless efficiency then?

I may be being cynical, or "over-sensitive", but I think that it is simply part of the denormalisation of smokers.

Its a great pity that we cannot seem to denormalise peadophilia, drunk driving, wife-beating, public vomiting, serious assaults, racism, murder, and knife crime etc etc etc.

Too difficult to tackle the real issues, I suppose...

#68,Colin,Banff.
Colin is quite right in that the original Litter Act was passed, I think, back in the fifties, but never strongly enforced. I think the bottom line is that we are in many ways a dirty, untidy, slovenly, nation.
I think he's making too much of the smoking connotation, and am quite happy for the appropriate authorities to catch and fine litter louts, whether their detritus is tobacco-derived, chewing gum, toffee papers or unfinished sandwiches.
After all, it doesn't all disintregate miraculously, and the council tax payers, meaning most of us, have to meet the disposal costs. If the idle sods can't pick up their rubbish, let them pick up the tab. The choice is theirs.
The other actions he lists are mainly serious crimes, and the province of the police. If he feels let down in these areas, he should perhaps best approach his local M.P.
I don't know Banff, but I'm sure it's citizens would benefit from clean, tidy streets.

It must be a wonderful life......... everyone being nice to each other, nobody smoking or drinking, everyone going to the gym everyday and not carrying a spare ounce of fat........ Its all very utopia really in cloud cuckoo land. The problem is we live in the real world where people are people and not saints. In cloud cuckoo land there's always going to be a irn bru cuckoo telling all the tweety old crows to shut up and long may it be that way.

#70,Claire.
Not sure if Claire 77's been on the wacky backy or reading too many Harry Potter stories. Or perhaps the final realisation that Me Bungo Pony was never really using my name as a psudonym has blown a gasket. Irn Bru cuckoo?
There, there, have another puff!

David,

I dont actually live in Banff, I live in a village not far from there. It is the nearest large town to me that people are likely to recognise. It is a clean town, as is my village. We get thousands of tourists here every summer so we make a special effort to keep it nice. I have been known to pick up discarded litter, and even empty fag packets and deposit them in a nearby bin. Not all smokers are selfish, slovenly litter louts. Then again, I dont suppose all non/anti smokers are saints either.

You missed my point though. Perhaps it is because I am sensitive to any story with the word "smokers" in it, that I notice we tend to get blamed for all of mankinds ills. I am tired of reading those stories and will naturally be defensive. I dont think enough effort goes into the more challenging crimes. If it did, surely we would be seeing more success than we are.

I also worry about the fact that we (in the UK) have more than 20% of the worlds CCTV's deployed. We are the most watched nation on the planet, with no signs of this slowing down, we really are racing towards an Orwellian society.

What worries me more is that we seem more interested in catching the guy who just ground out a cigarette, than we are in catching a mugger, or worse, who is "off camera" for those vital few seconds.

Even the most objective non smoker must see that we have been taking a severe beating in the last year or so, and its getting worse.

All based on the flimsiest of reasons.

#72,Colin,Banff.
As someone brought up not to dump litter, but simply to take it home, I commend Colin's sense of civic responsibility in helping to keep his locale tidy.
However, I would remind him that the feature wasn't just about smokers' detritus.
Nor did I say that smokers were selfish. slovenly, litter louts, rather that these were the characteristics we seem to share as a nation, meaning the U.K., in general. I'm sure we all see plenty of abandoned bottles, soft drink cans, and snack wrappings.
I would point out that part of the Country Code says "Take your litter home". Responsible country lovers go with plastic bags, and take the packaging from their lunch home. It's really not difficult, hence my approval of Edinburgh's policy.
CCTV cameras are not all operated by the state or local authorities, but also by supermarkets and businesses legitimately protecting their property.
If Colin feels smokers are being unfairly isolated and maligned of late, perhaps they are simply suffering from their lack of consideration in the past.

David - how on earth did you know I am claire77? You obviously haven't seen the irn bru adverts with the cuckoo on - look out for them! I noticed you mentioned the Country Code. Wheren't they the adverts with "nice view from up here petunia" on in the 1970s?

I often wonder why litter etc can get people so angry when the really frightening issues of our time pass without comment. Our government are manipulating us with such ease. They turn us all against each other when we should all be banding together to tell the government we are pig sick of being robbed blind with taxes and dictated to. We are sleep walking into a police state and should all be very afraid at the speed at which this is occuring.

PS - I know you're there Bungo, your pseudonims don't fool me..................................

#74/75,Claire.
Claire should be aware that my spies and cameras are everywhere, and be very, very, afraid.
Only know the Barclays woodpecker, but will keep twitching.
Not sure if Claire is confused with Pathé Pictorials, or something of a similar genre. The Country Code is still valid, but most lovers of the countryside observe it without thinking. It's really only needed for some thoughtless, boorish townies.
Not discussing politics.
If Claire looks towards the end of the "severest restrictions" thread, she'll see where comrade Bungo has said he's moved to.
Happy nightmares!