A 68-year-old man was fined £150 for feeding ducks when an enforcement officer handed him a fixed penalty notice for “throwing bird food on the ground and walking away”. The ticket from agency Kingdom claims James Watson was throwing food onto the ground, but he says he was throwing it into the water where the ducks were eating it.
James was stopped on a tow path next to the Grand Union Canal in Hayes, London - while the ticket claims he was three roads away fro the water at the time of the incident. James’ son, Dave Watson, told MyLondon: “I am actually a volunteer for litter picking groups in Ealing so when my dad was accused of littering I was shocked. I had brought him the specialised feed to make sure he was helping the birds and environment.
“We tried to appeal the ticket but there isn’t actually a formal appeal process for a fixed penalty notice. Even though the ticket had the wrong details on, wrong accusations and wrong road, he was still expected to pay it.
"He almost gave up and just paid the fine because contesting it in court would cost more money than paying the ticket would. It caused him a lot of stress when we knew that purpose duck food is not classed as litter because when it is thrown in the water and eaten the purpose is for it to be eaten, not littered.”
Dave approached Ealing Council about the fine and was told that there is not an appeal process against fixed penalty notices’ and it would have to be contested in court. He claims that despite showing officials the difference in locations and pictures of the bird feed used they eventually told him they can write his father a new ticket with the correct charge on.
Dave has now been able to get the ticket cancelled and his dad was excused from paying the fine. The council apologised to James and Dave and said that from now on Kingdom security staff would not charge people for feeding ducks.
Dave said: “My dad has heart conditions and this didn’t help with his stress. I am glad we didn’t pay the charge. Officials were very apologetic about the whole situation and assured me those feeding ducks won’t be prosecuted in the future.”
An Ealing Council spokesperson said: “In a densely populated urban environment, food thrown or dropped on the floor can attract mice and rats. The Canal and River Trust approached us to involve our Kingdom enforcement team to consider ways to reduce the amount of food left lying around on the towpath.
“On occasion this means handing out single fixed penalty notices to those who don’t play by the rules and spoil it for everyone else. This stretch of canal is regularly visited by the Kingdom enforcement team and they’ve received positive responses by most towpath users who understand that we want to keep our towpaths and waterways clean for people to enjoy.
“On this occasion, we appreciate that Mr Watson was feeding the ducks in the canal and not littering the towpath. We have cancelled his fixed penalty notice, and have apologised to him directly.”
