Zero tolerance (From The Oxford Times)

Zero tolerance

6:00am Thursday 12th November 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

There was a time, not that long ago, when the tossing away of a cigarette or a match would have been seen as normal behaviour. Not today. As we report this week, one student received a fixed penalty fine for tossing a match away in Cornmarket Street.

It was spotted by an Oxford City Council street warden tasked with implementing the council’s zero tolerance campaign on littering.

It has always been an offence to drop matches, cigarettes and all, but for a long time it was an offence that was rarely prosecuted.

Local authorities, such as the city council and other districts in the county, are now beginning to catch up with public opinion.

Even this week’s transgressor was forced to admit that the council was right.

We know from our own postbag and from our support of the Oxclean spring clean-up that the overwhelming majority of Oxfordshire’s citizens care about how our streets look and would not dream of littering them.

They, like us, are exasperated when they see the mess that sometimes degrades our streets.

So, we hope that the city council’s zero tolerance on litter will not be a short campaign but will be a permanent fixture. The minority who do not care about the look of our streets should know that ultimately they will pay the price if they continue to drop their waste.