A local council in the UK has been somewhat embarrassed in the press this week following a spat between a member of the public and a somewhat over-zealous warden.

Luke Gutteridge took his fight to court after being fined £75 for dropping orange peel in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

Although he picked up and threw the peel into the waste bin when the council officer pointed out what he had done, the officer issued him with a fine anyway.

The press have had a field day because the case took nine months in the courts and costs generated were in the thousands of pounds.

You can find out more from the BBC website here.

In the description of the “offence”, there is even a lovely triplet (expression common in legal English consisting of three words/terms – a synonym string):

did leave drop and walk away from orange peel

Note: I could only find the council’s statement on its side of the case as cached content, for, oddly, it seems to have been taken down from their website.

Whilst we are on the subject of oranges, you might enjoy this past post.