Handicapped woman fined for rubbish out too early
It could be the abrupt end of summer here or something in the air, but the ‘rules are rules’ motto can sometimes goes too far and be called ‘anti-social’. Of course, you could also say it’s bad timing.
A blind and wheelchair-bound woman from Groningen was fined for throwing out her old bed in the trash too early, probably before 8 pm. She had asked a girlfriend to do it for her who obviously didn’t observe the rules. The handicapped woman plans to contest the fine.
Although different and more obviously absurd, it does remind of the driver who was accused of not running over a cat and who won his case.
Ironically, just today right over the border in Germany (in Dutch) a similar case was lost. Some man braked to avoid running over a poodle, and apparently the law applies only to braking for kids and not animals, effectively implying the man should have ran over the poodle to avoid the accident he caused.
(Link: rtvnoord)
Handicapped or not, it’s obvious the woman was not breaking the rule on purpose, so why go to the extreme, why the fine? (Unless Groningen strapped for revenue.) The Milieudienst, as a municipal body (paid for by her taxes), is supposed to work with citizens and not against them. (I know, I know, but I’m just sayin’.) So why not just a friendly reminder about the service hours?
The usual friendly reminder is a sticker on the large piece of rubbish with ‘wrong day’ usually, but the people who hadn out the fines have the last word.
It’s a mad, mad, mad world.