Snowballs - and an £80 fine

[BertRoot]

POLICE fined a Cambridge student £80 - for making a 4ft phallus in yesterday (Thursday, 08 February)'s snow.
John Knowles built a snow penis in his lunch-break on Parker's Piece yesterday (Thursday, 08 February) and was pleased when crowds gathered to admire his handiwork and passing motorists beeped their horns in appreciation.
But, despite good humoured onlookers laughing at the cheeky sculpture, a police officer pulled up in a patrol car and asked the student to accompany him to the nearby Parkside station.
He then booked the 18-year old for a public order offence, warning him his statue could have offended members of the public, and handed him an £80 fine which he must pay within two weeks.
John was also ordered to knock the statue down.
The hard-up student, who is reading history at Anglia Ruskin University, said: "My mates and I built a 4ft phallic symbol in the snow, just to make people laugh.
"Quite a few people were stopping and having a laugh, then this police officer came over and told me I would have to pay him £80.
"He said I had to be fined because I could have offended someone, but in all honesty I did not see anyone who was offended - they were all having a laugh."
The wording on the fine cites Mr Knowles for "making a 4ft phallic symbol out of snow" and says the penalty was issued under section five of the Public Order Act, which bans the display of any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting.
The 18-year-old, who lives at the YMCA, added: "I don't have a job and to me £80 is a lot of money, so although the officer may have just been doing his job, I'm not particularly happy about it."
A police spokesman said:
"The police officer was driving past Parker's Piece when he noticed the snow sculpture, which was very intricately made and attracting attention from passers-by, many of whom were children.
"He stopped and spoke to the sculptor about his creation and he agreed that it could cause offence in such a prominent position.
"The officer was not trying to spoil anyone's enjoyment of the snow, but was concerned people in the area could be offended by the structure."
Yesterday (Thursday, 08 February) the most widespread snow of the winter paralysed much of Britain, and Cambridge and surrounding towns did not escape.
Traffic was slow moving and dozens of schools shut because of the freezing temperatures.
The Met Office was predicting that another four centimetres could fall in Cambridge this afternoon.
A spokesman said: "The temperatures mean snow could fall but we are expecting it to turn to rain this evening."
Children hoping the snowy spell lasts into next week's half-term holiday could be disappointed. The Met Office said it is expecting a mild period of weather to move into the region this weekend.
Parts of the UK, including south Wales and the West Midlands, will see more snow with up to 10cm predicted.
Yesterday (Thursday, 08 February)'s snow reached 15cm in some parts of Britain and swathed the South and Midlands, gradually moving north and reaching Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Disruption to London's Tube services caused suspensions and severe delays with a "small number" of station closures, predominantly in the west of London.
Train passengers also endured problems. Network Rail said all routes on the rail network were open, but services were running with delays.
Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Stansted and Luton airports all temporarily closed their runways.
Gatwick and Heathrow also cancelled some departures.
The average speed on the motorways as people made their way to work was about 30mph - but there were fewer accidents than usual, according to traffic information provider Trafficmaster, as drivers took extra care.
Business advisers Grant Thornton estimated the chaos caused by the snow is likely to cost around £330 million in lost productivity.
David Frost, directorgeneral of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the lateness and loss of work hours caused by transport disruptions could cost the British economy up to £400 million.



http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news...a1b80dafdd.lpf

[Epiphany]

What a joke, a very worthy and constructive use of police time....

All he had to do was say, "look it could offend someone, can you please knock it down". An £80 fine is way OTT. What a tw@t