Man gets £433 fine for littering in Manchester city centre - but he didn't do it

A quirky advert from Keep Britain Tidy features a mallard chasing a man who casually drops a cigarette butt after binning a crisp packet. The council’s intention to highlight that cigarette butts are litter is overshadowed by a blunder involving teacher Steve Jones, who received a criminal record due to mistaken identity. Despite being a non-smoker and miles away at a funeral when the offence supposedly occurred, he was wrongfully prosecuted for dropping the butt outside H&M in Manchester. Errors in identifying the real offender and communication mishaps with the city council led to the mix-up. Although the council eventually acknowledged the mistake and apologised, they initially sent Jones a hefty fine and court papers, leaving him anxious about his record, particularly as a teacher. The council has promised to rectify their processes to prevent such errors in the future and is working to set aside Jones’s conviction.

Read the full article at Manchester Evening News