Woman fined for cleaning pavement outside her house

A British woman has been arrested and subsequently fined £415 for cleaning the pavement outside her own house. Margaret Reynolds, 27, was caught on Monday morning, sweeping the detritus of a Saturday night from the pavement, which included a polystyrene container of kebab meat and chips, and a half dozen cigarette butts. A worker for Foxbury Council spotted her attempts and immediately reported her to the police, who subsequently arrested and issued a spot fine.

Foxbury Council have since released a statement declaring:

"Mrs Reynolds was, by way of her actions, endangering the people on her street by attempting to clean the pavement in a way that isn't sanctioned by the council. Foxbury Council have a duty to ensure that only sanctioned and trained servicepersons are used to tidy public walkspaces. Mrs Reynold's actions were a clear violation of that duty, and we have decided to press for the full fine allowable by law."

Reynolds herself unfortunately declined to comment but the council worker who called the police on her, Jonny Simmons, 56, told us:

"It's for her own good. Here she was, milling away like someone who wanted the front of her house looking clean. And I'm stood there thinking 'Bloody do-gooders - they'll do me out of a job here!'. I didn't have no choice, I had to dob her in with the filth. Course the council reckoned that it was a health and safety issue because I'm trained to clean the path and she ain't, but personally I just wanted to see her get what was coming to her."

This story follows on from last week's attempts by Foxbury Council to evict a man who owns his own home, and the draining of a council swimming pool in order to save people from drowning.