Where's the trust

1:31pm Friday 4th April 2008

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RE: THE article which told how motorists seen carrying rubbish face a fine if they cannot later prove they disposed of it legally.

I REFER to your item "Rubbish laden cars to be traced" in the BFP March 14. As a committed anti-flytipper, green supporter and very strong supporter of the principles of British justice, this is quite unacceptable.

Why? Because it turns the above principles on their head by automatically assuming that the waste carrier is guilty of illegal dumping unless he can provide proof of lawful disposal.

I submit that the private ie non-trade individual should not be forced into the position of having to prove that he did not dump illegally, ie to prove a negative act. Rather it should be the enforcement officer who should face the onus of proving the illegal act.

A fine point, you may think, but to me it just illustrates the ever creeping power of the state to control the individual's behaviour with dire constraints, called fixed penalty notices in this instance.

For goodness sake can our legislators never trust (old fashioned word, I know), the individual to act responsibly?

Michael Davis Perks Lane Prestwood