Carmel Bennett Nashua
How many NSW drivers are aware there are 10,000 people out there ready to report you for littering? You know you’ve been reported when you receive an infringement notice in the mail.
You are given details of the time and place of the offence but not who reported you. The notice stresses that 98 per cent of the requests for review fail. For a review to be successful you have to provide evidence that you did not commit the offence. Guilty until proven innocent.
I was accused of throwing a lighted cigarette butt from the window. I hate littering and do not do it. Neither do I smoke. I supplied significant evidence that I was a non-smoker and environmentalist with my review request. No matter – the fine still applied.
After contacting the office of Tamara Smith, who agreed to make representations on my behalf, and an email to the environment minister Gabrielle Upton, I received notification that the fine had beencancelled. No explanation, other than to say the matter had been referred back to the issuing authority for consideration. No apology either.
This has happened to many people and because of the difficulty in proving innocence, the fine has just been paid. The system is open to abuse because you could be reported by someone who doesn’t like the way you drive, doesn’t like your bumper stickers, doesn’t like you.
Mussolini reportedly said, ‘If you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, nobody will notice’.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
