The Roy Marsh littering case is certainly gaining attention that enforcement officers might rather it didn’t receive. What do you think should have happened?

Roy Marsh is an 86-year-old man who struggles with walking and breathing. Despite these issues, he tries to walk around the lake in his home area every day. While being outside, anything can happen when the wind begins to blow. In this case, a leaf blew into his mouth, and he coughed it up and spit it out. Strangely, this action led to a massively unnecessary fine.

Setting the stage of the Roy Marsh littering case

An elderly man walking around a boating lake in Lincolnshire, England, got hit with a shocking fine after a leaf blew into his mouth and he spit it out. Roy Marsh, 86, who deals with walking difficulties, severe asthma, and a heart condition, was approached by two enforcement officers who claimed they saw him spitting on the ground. The officers slapped him with a $334.50 littering fine, which was later reduced to $200.70 on appeal. Marsh called the whole situation “unnecessary and all out of proportion,” and he’s not alone in thinking the enforcement went too far. Local officials are now questioning whether these officers need better training on using discretion instead of automatically issuing fines for what looks like genuine accidents.

It seems the littering fine in England needs some clarification

While littering should certainly be frowned upon, and nobody wants to see people going around spitting on the ground regularly, the overzealous enforcement officers likely need to learn the difference between an accident caused by the wind and environmental issues and actual spitting and littering. The Lincolnshire littering laws might be clear, but before an elderly man is fined for a leaf that blew into his mouth, someone should have stepped in and stopped the officers from their actions. Unfortunately, Mr. Marsh is out a little more than $200 because of the officers who might have been looking for something to do.

Why didn’t the East Lindsey District Council enforcement toss out the ticket?

It’s certainly one thing to support your officers, but certainly another when it comes to an elderly man who happened to inhale a leaf because of his breathing issues and a gust of wind. Although the ticket was reduced, it should have been tossed out altogether. This situation amounts to little more than a lack of discretion on the part of the officers, who seem to embody what Roy called them, which is “silly boy.” A person spitting out a leaf doesn’t seem to reach the levels that need environmental crime enforcement in the UK.

Should Roy have had to pick up the leaf?

Unfortunately, the officer who issued the ticket to Roy Marsh never gave him a chance to simply pick up the leaf after it was coughed up. How would these officers have reacted had Mr. Marsh inhaled something larger and coughed it up? What if he, or another individual, began to vomit in the area? It seems that the overzealous officer went too far. Sure, there are some people who litter, and in an area where that’s illegal, they should be given tickets, but when was a leaf considered litter? This was certainly a case in which the officer used some seriously poor judgment in issuing the fine, despite it fitting the “letter of the law,” sometimes it’s much more important to keep in mind the “spirit of the law.” Maybe the officer should have acted out of concern for an 86-year-old man coughing something up, instead of simply enforcing the law.

Is this the end of the Roy Mash littering case?

Now that Roy Marsh has paid his fine, is he taking precautions to ensure a leaf doesn’t accidentally go into his mouth again? The man already has asthma; should he also wear a mask over his mouth and nose to prevent anything from going in that he shouldn’t? Can he still enjoy his walks around the lake? What will it be like for him if he encounters the same officer again?

The Roy Marsh littering case is just one example of how absurd some law enforcement personnel can be. For the most part, they generally do a great job and help the community, but the officers in question should be reprimanded for this incident and put through training to understand the differences between actual litter and a person who has accidentally ingested part of nature. While it doesn’t seem to be that difficult for most of us to understand, these officers seemed baffled by the notion of overlooking this incident.