Foul-mouthed visitors to Kent’s tourist hotspots are now in danger of on-the-spot fines and prosecutions for swearing in public.
Councillors in Thanet imposed a crackdown at seaside towns including Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs this summer, to stop bad language offending the locals.
Council officers and police have been empowered to dish out £100 penalties to anyone who is heard loudly uttering rude words, with court proceedings looming over those who refuse to pay up.
The council’s use of little-known public space protection orders (PSPOs) to bring in the penalties sparked huge debate about people being penalised for behaviour they may not know is banned.
Here are some other minor crimes which you may be surprised to learn could land you in the dock.
Incorrectly riding an escalator
Who knew you could get into so much trouble on the escalator on the Tube?
One commuter recently succumbed to the urge to press the big red emergency stop button, and was swiftly accosted by a waiting Transport for London officer.
“I just did it, I don’t know why”, he explained.
The Southall resident was prosecuted for stopping an escalator without authority on the Transport for London regional railway network, and it cost him £558 in fines and court fees.
Also, don’t be tempted to try out your aptitude for the Gladiators Travellator by running the wrong way on an escalator, as one Tube user tried in March.
“I tried to get his attention but he continued with his journey towards the Bakerloo and Jubilee lines”, said a TfL officer, sent in hot pursuit of the man.
“We tried again to get his attention but he continued to undermine the safety of other travelling passengers.”
The man ended up with a criminal conviction for disobeying Tube rules, with £558 to pay.
Spitters and litterers
Most people would agree that spitting on the ground in public is disgusting and morally reprehensible. But how many people know that those who do it can actually be prosecuted for littering?
In a recent case, Greenwich Council took Patel Keshra to court for dropping saliva on to the ground outside JD Sports in Woolwich, using the littering provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to bring the criminal case.
A council officer spotted the spitting, approached Mr Keshra, and demanded to know his name and address so that he could be served with a fine.
“The defendant did not pick up the litter”, the officer dryly observed in his witness statement.
Other London councils including Bromley and Bexley regularly bring prosecutions for littering – usually involving dropped cigarette butts - and it can be costly for the defendant’s bank balance.
Mr Keshra was fined £220 and ordered to pay an extra £438 in costs and court fees.
Bad mopeds
Police officers have a broad power to issue a fine to anyone they believe is putting road users at risk by not having proper control of their vehicle.
Using a phone at the wheel is an obvious and frequent one, but some motorists run into difficulties for rather more unusual activities.
Earlier this year a delivery driver was prosecuted for riding around on his moped while wearing bright orange flip flops.
Another was pulled over for “dancing” while riding along the road, while several found themselves in the dock for pulling ill-advised wheelies, trying to drive their moped with a coffee in their hand, and eating on the ride.
The charge is usually “Driver not in position to have proper control”, and £200 fines with penalty points tend to follow.
Cyclists in the dock
Motorists know they cannot run red lights and will face serious consequences if they do. So it prompts understandable fury when an errant cyclist whizzes through the red lights without hesitation.
On occasion, though, those on bikes who flout the rules are called to account – usually when police happen to see the offence taking place.
Hackney resident Dr Louis Busby was rushing to work when he went through a red light on Borough High Street in March.
“The rider passed the stop line whilst the light was still red, he then paused in the centre of the junction then continued on”, wrote the police officer who saw it.
“The light was still red after he had crossed the entire junction.
“I stopped the pedal cycle and explained what I had seen to the rider. The rider stated that he was trying to get to work before it started raining.”
Dr Busby said he did not get a fine in the post and was surprised to face a criminal prosecution.
“Seems unfair”, he observed. “The officer said this would be reported and would see what happened, so I just assumed there had been no consequences.”
He got a £72 fine, has to pay a £29 victim surcharge, and was spared the costs of the case.
Close pass
If you know where to look, YouTube is awash with the GoPro footage of cyclists on their commutes to work, highlighting the behaviour of bad drivers.
Motorists are frequently caught out checking their phones while at the wheel, running a red light, or disobeying no entry and one-way systems.
But did you know that driving too close to a cyclist can also land you in the dock?
Cyclist Nick Duggan reported truck driver Andrew Phillips, 57, after a run-in on Mile End Road, and the motorist was prosecuted for “driving without reasonable consideration for other users”.
Mr Duggan complained of being “close passed” and provided footage to back up his allegation.
The trucker admitted the offence, but complained in his mitigation about the cyclist’s use of the road.
“If he was wanting to turn right at the junction, he did not signal or, in my opinion, was he in the right lane”, he wrote.
“If you look at the video, supplied by the victim, you will notice there is a filter lane for traffic to turn right only, or he could of used the cycle lane which allows cyclists to turn right as guided by the traffic signals.”
Phillips was ultimately fined £227, with £201 in costs, and three points on his licence.
Urinating on the floor
It should come as no surprise that urinating in public can get you into trouble.
When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go, right?
But that kind of excuse isn’t going to spare you a criminal conviction.
Take the man who was caught relieving himself on the floor at Victoria coach station after being denied access to the disabled toilet by a member of staff.
“I'm diabetic – when I need to go, I’ll go”, he insisted.
“(A cleaner) told me that I need my own key for the disabled toilet so I told him I’ll piss here and you’ll have to clean it up.”
Transport for London charged him with “unacceptable behaviour”, but a magistrate took pity and gave him an absolute discharge.
Using the Tube train doors
The doors linking carriages on the Tube are usually plastered with warning stickers – “Danger, do not use when the train is moving” – “Emergency use only”.
But how many passengers know it’s actually a criminal offence under TfL bye-laws to ignore the stickers?
Croydon resident Aaron Sharma was accosted in March on the Victoria Line when an officer saw him “pass through the interchanging doors while the train was in motion”.
"Really didn’t know that”, he replied, when told it was not allowed.
He was charged with disobeying a safety notice, and got a £220 fine at court, with £250 costs and an £88 victim surcharge.
Even when the train isn’t moving, you can still prosecuted for using those doors.
Constant Adra, 49, from Mottingham, was caught out in April while travelling from Stratford to Greenwich.
“She was observed passing through the emergency carriage doors to gain access to the next carriage”, reported an officer.
She received the same penalty as Mr Sharma, but for a different charge: Leaving a train other than by proper use of the train door.
Not wearing glasses while driving
Driver Michael Hall, 78, was driving to the dentist in St Ives in January when his Toyota Yaris had a crash with a cyclist.
Police determined that the collision was actually the fault of the cyclist, after he cycled into Mr Hall’s path and left him with “no time to react”.
However this wasn’t the end of Mr Hall’s problems.
“The defendant was not at fault for the collision but was not wearing their glasses at the time of the collision as this was a condition of their licence to wear glasses when driving”, said the police officer.
“A roadside eyesight test was carried out by the attending officer which the defendant failed at 20 metres.”
Mr Hall pleaded guilty, saying he has glasses “but failed to put them on” and insisted that while he failed the police sight test he could “see clearly around me”.
He received a £163 fine, three points on his licence, and costs and court fees of £155.
Cycling without due care and attention
Cycling Mikey is perhaps London’s best-known road safety activist, famed for his captures of motorists like Guy Ritchie and Chris Eubank breaking the trafficrules.
But he is always clear that cyclist need to obey the rules as well motorists.
Nick Freeman, the lawyer dubbed ‘Mr Loophole’, has previously called for numberplates for cyclists, so they can tracked down and called to account for bad behaviour.
But until someone takes up that suggestion, it tends to be the cyclists who break the law in front of police officers that end up getting caught.
Mahamadou Jawara, 27, was cycling through Eastbourne when he had the misfortune to cut up a passing PC.
“The male on the pedal cycle pulled straight out in front of me without looking”, said the officer.
“I had to perform an emergency stop to avoid a collision with the male who then continued to ride.”
Riding a bike on a road without due care and attention was the charge, and Mr Jawara had to pay out £398 after a criminal prosecution.
Get your skates off
E-Scooters and E-bikes are banned from the Tube in case the lithium batteries suddenly burst into flames. And people are prosecuted every week for breaking that rule, whether they know about it or not.
In fact, privately owned e-scooters are banned under law from use on London’s roads and pavements, and can lead to hefty fines and driving bans for those who break the rules.
Yet, bizarrely, it is still legal to purchase an e-Scooter – you just can’t (legally) use it anywhere apart from your own driveway.
It’s not just the electric vehicles that can cause you bother.
Joseph Fernandes was prosecuted after he was seen rollerskating along the platform at Nine Elms station, in breach of a byelaw on “pedestrian-only areas”.
He whipped the skates off when the officer approach, but it was too late to avoid a prosecution.
Also banned on TfL premises are skateboards, as one passenger discovered at Stratford station.
“The passenger was skateboarding down the platform”, observed a TfL officer.
“I explained to him that skateboarding on the concourse was a safety issue and not permitted.
“He replied ‘Why, I haven’t hurt anyone’ and at one point he lost control of his skateboard and it hit a concrete column.”
It ended up costs him £558 in court fines, costs and fees.
