Ye canny smoke there pal !

So there I was, parked up in my car, owned and registered in my name and on my own time so imagine my distress when a strange looking man thrust a clipboard towards me and informed me that I was committing an offence under Wee Jack McConnell's Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005.

I was then detained for around 10 minutes whilst this clipboard weilding supposed officer of the Council, will never know who he was as he didn't show me any ID, started to take down my details and issue me with a fixed penalty. It is only now with hindsight and investigation that I have discovered the following conditions are supposed to be met by the issuing officers :

1 All enforcement officers must be in full uniform and have ID
2, Their car or van must display the environment stickers.
3, They cannot pull you over
4, They cannot detain you against your will
5, You do not have to give them your name or address
6, There must be 2 of them before they can issue any fine

Well 1,2 and 4 were not fulfilled. 3 was not relevant as I was parked up, 5 was not explained to me as being an option and 6 may or may not have been fulfilled as there was another dodgy looking character behind my car but never had the courtesy to identify himself.

So on receiving the fine I decided to have a better look into the facts and figures and it would appear that Renfrewshire Council are the best at 1 thing at least -

Total Fixed Penalty notices issued in Scotland from 26/03/06 (start of ban) to 31/03/07 :

658

Top Councils for Issuing Fines :

1. Renfrewshire 193 (29.33% of total fines)
2. Fife 104 (15.80% of total fines)
3. East Ayrshire 100 (15.20% of total fines)

So between 3 Councils, out of the Scottish total of 23 Councils over 60% of the fixed penalties.

Glasgow and the City of Edinburgh with the biggest populations have given out just 28 between them.

Well done Renfrewshire you are top dog for something, glad my Council Tax money is not being wasted.