Tom Welsh, if the litterer had cooperated with the PCSO there would have been no need to involve the police officer thereby taking the cop away from perhaps being able to concentrate on the yobs. There is a difference betwen throwing an apple core into a field or just dropping it in a city street.

A.Carter, Wakefield, UK

You cannot have it both ways -- either you hit the British with fines and or jail for throwing litter in the streets or they will keep on doing it for for ever. The fine should be £10 first offence and £30 then £50 then jail. That is the only way to stop this country looking like a pigsty.

Pete ,London, london, eng

Dont get carried away with the littering part.The officer had little choice but to arrest the man once he would not co-opereate.
These laws should be widely enforced for an on the spot fine but it needs setting lower to be acceptable and more trouble to avoid than pay.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

This is no doubt exactly what the politicians who enacted these measures expected and wanted to happen. Meanwhile youths are being knifed to death, and mobs of young thugs are terrorising elderly people, while the police are nowhere to be seen.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Couldn't the PCSO and police have asked Mr. Hirst to pick up the apple core and rather than immediately issue a fine?

50 pounds is a lot of money for many.

If he refused then, sure, issue the fine. A lot depends on how people do things as well; the manner in which you speak to people.

Scully Mc Gregor, Melbourne, Australia