Home of the timid, land of the unfree

Here's one from the Scotsman:

"A NEWLYWED couple received a £300 bill from police because their car was broken into while on honeymoon.

Nigel and Fiona Boothman's car was uplifted after it was broken into while they were in Argentina. The Volkswagen Golf GTi - an "old banger" worth only £200 - had been uplifted by police because it was "unsecure" after the break-in.

Officers posted a note through their door in Grange Loan, Edinburgh, to say it had been impounded and they were liable for a £150 along with £20 a day in storage charges and VAT."

And the Guardian has news of an environmental crime:

"Environmentalists yesterday criticised a council for prosecuting a man who put the wrong kind of rubbish into a recycling bag. Friends of the Earth said the case of Michael Reeves, who has been ordered to pay £200 for putting a single sheet of paper in a bag reserved for glass and tin, could put others off recycling."

Putting the right waste into the right bags may not be, as a spokesman for Swansea council said, 'rocket science' but this seems a little harsh. You don't even get that for the crime of smoking indoors, which everyone now agrees is an outrageous thing to do.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh City Council is planning an attack - a 'two-pronged' one, no less, on 'nuisance drinkers' making a noise outside pubs and clubs. This spiraled' of late since our Executive thought it a good idea to herd smokers onto the pavements like lepers. City licensing leader Phil Attridge said:

"We didn't want to go down the same road as Glasgow, where the offence is committed as soon as you drink outside..."

So if you're ever visiting Glasgow, please remember to get it the right way round: you can't drink outside and you can't smoke inside. Get this wrong and you could end up doing a custodial sentence.