Quote: JerryChicken "Speaking of an over-burdened public service can I throw this into the mix before this thread goes stale ?
rlhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/famished-woman-fined-330-for-stealing-a-75p-pack-of-mars-bars-after-benefits-stopped-10455635.htmlrl
At what point in this dash to privatise and profit-ize every public service was it decided that our court system should pay for itself ? I have actually read comments from "a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice", in other words a politician who doesn't want to make his/her name known, that "Its right for criminals to pay for the courts time".
So a woman who steals a 75p Mars Bar because she says that she had no money and needed to eat something is fined £73 plus £0.75 compensation to the shop, which then increases to £328 after civil service fees are levied, and yet no-one stops to ask the blindingly obvious question "If she can't pay 75p for a Mars Bar then..." (complete the sentence yourself if you have more brains than whoever decided that court fees were equitable).
At what point do we close down the whole of government and tax collection because every civil service department now pays for itself by charging fees instead of being paid for by taxation as it has been for centuries.
PS - the introduction of the court charge has seen an ever increasing number of magistrates resigning their voluntary roles in protest as they see the issues stood ten feet in front of them rather than looking at numbers on a balance sheet in a hidden office in Whitehall and being able to hide behind "a government spokesperson" statement.'"
There's one of those hated foodbanks in Kidderminster that would happily have given her 3 days food. For no cost whatsoever. Still let's all feel sorry for the petty thief, after all once you need financial assistance then other people's property is fair game.
