Kew woman fined £150 for pouring coffee down drain in Richmond
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg435gg66gpo
Posted by Mysterious-Waltz-362
Kew woman fined £150 for pouring coffee down drain in Richmond
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg435gg66gpo
Posted by Mysterious-Waltz-362
27 Comments
Yeah, like the drains don’t collect oil spilled from cars, waste residues, dust from tyre and other plastics….
The officers who fined the woman are idiots. Ignorant idiots.
I don’t know details, but it sure as hell feels like a private company just trying to generate fines.
the coffee she had drunk would end up in the same place later in the day, when she flushed the toilet, right?
I get not pouring oil or toxic chemicals down drains, but coffee?
That trio of jobsworths had more presence than most of Richmond’s nightlife.
I could *maybe* understand if she was dumping used coffee grounds down the drain, but she effectively poured what is 95% water down a drain. Surely it could have just been a quick chat and a “dont do it again please”, rather than a full £150 for someone who believed they were doing the right thing.
Sounds like a case of “letter of the law, but not the spirit”
_EDIT: Turns out it’s not even the letter of the law, strictly speaking, the law only criminalises dumping waste in drains if it’s likely to cause environmental damage which coffee obviously isn’t. So this is just the council either not knowing the law or knowing the law and hoping people won’t challenge it._
The rule mainly exists because depending on the drainage system, some drains (newer ones) are completely separate to sewers and go straight into rivers/the ocean with minimal (if any) water treatment. These sorts of systems massively increase the throughput and can drain more water than traditional systems that drain water into sewers, but obviously if you dump waste into these then you’re essentially dumping waste directly into a river. So dumping waste in drains is illegal.
But obviously, coffee isn’t exactly a biohazard.
I think the issue is that councils get the fine money, so they have an incentive to perversely enforce the law to make as much money as possible – You already see revenue raised from fines being cited as a benefit of things like traffic/parking restrictions, which has led to things like the Zoë Bread saga in Manchester. And revenue raised really shouldn’t be a consideration when enforcing the law – councils should enforce the law for the good of the public, not because they want money from it.
Fine money from these sorts of things should go to central government IMO.
I had no idea this was an offense. Usually I just tip the dregs on the pavement, wonder how much trouble I could get in for that?
The idea that fining someone for pouring out the dregs of their coffee is “protecting our waterways” rather than addressing the environmental crisis brought about by the bloodied hands of water companies is fucking wild.
THREE enforcement officers?
Can these babies not work alone?
Punishing people who meant no harm is becoming this country’s favourite pastime.
[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/section/33](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/section/33)
In case anyone is interested in the specific law.
And I would call bs on this interpretation that pouring coffee down the drain causes an issue here. It has to pass:
>in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.
And as we have already figured out in this thread, pouring a bit of coffee down the drain isn’t going to cause anything anywhere any harm.
I think they are full of shit and would bet that a judge would dismiss this instantly.
I’d crowd fund that and go to court. Disproportional and frivolous.
How is thst different than me pouring coffee down my sink?
I am very pro-environment, but this fine seems rather excessive. A quiet word or warning to her would surely have been more appropriate.
Just wait until they hear about what Thames Water dumps down the drains.
What could they realistically do if she just walked off? Everything about this story is absolutely wild, I’d be having none of it!
This seems really mean spirited. As for the advice of pouring it in a bin, think about it this way: if everyone with a small amount of tea or coffee poured their excess into street bins, the bin bags would be heavier with water weight and therefore are more likely to split when replaced. Said water waste then flows to its lowest point, which more often than not would be the nearest drainage point.
This should have been advice given, not a fine. It’s not like she was dumping out an entire pot.
Citizens pouring coffee down the drain – fine.
Private water companies dumping raw sewage in open waters – eh, what can we do, that’s just how things are, keep calm and carry on.
If only they were so keen on doing the same to the water companies who pour thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the water
This is what happens when you outsource to private companies who are then incentivised to issue as many fines as possible. No common sense or reasonable interpretation of the law is applied.
So by their logic. Everyone should put it in the bin. Now if everyone did this the bin bag would be partially filled with used liquid. This then breaks when the bag is replaced and ends up on the floor, or when thrown in the back of a caged van it will break and the liquid eventually end up on the road. In both occasions the liquid will find itself in the drain system. Just madness.
Also i would happily see this taken to court and see why coffee is now a bio hazard.
What she should’ve done is told them to get stuffed and walked off instead of giving her details. These environmental enforcement agents have limited powers and are frequently known for overstepping. Wonder how long it will be before they go and annoy a scrote who decides to give them a black eye or bloody nose.
What happened to their concept, care in the community or community policing, or something of that nature, where they resolve things amicably with no paperwork. Does anyone remember this.
I’ve known about this law since I was a child washing Dad’s car. He told me you’re not meant to pour the soapy water directly down the drain… However you can pour it on the drive, then it runs down the road a bit and into the drain.
Utter nonsense 😭
The law seems like it is written to stop people pouring cooking oil, used white spirit, paint, motor oil etc down the drain which is fair enough. Anyone objectively looking at what she did would have no issue.
“Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 makes it an offence to deposit or dispose of waste in a way likely to pollute land or water, including pouring liquids into street drains.”
These people are over ~~jealous~~ (edit! zealous) and need to be reigned in. Focus on the actual environmental crimes, make bins more available and we would end up with a much better outcome instead of incentivising low hanging fruit.
The same drains that allow all the heavy metals, plastics and other toxic compounds to run off our roads into the watercourse when it rains?
Coffee dregs get the fine?
Fucking serves her right for caring about the bin man having to carry a bin bag dripping with liquid coffee or God forbid she’s one of those weirdos that recycles
Officers should all be forced to haul around some bin bags filled with a nice mix of takeaway leftovers, used nappies, and half-finished drinks. If anything leaks out they have to clean it up of course, otherwise they get fined.