Primary school kids could be slapped with £500 ‘Asbo’ fines for ‘feeding neighbour's cat’
Primary school kids slapped with £500 ‘Asbo’ fines for ‘feeding neighbour’s cat’
Getty
Children as young as ten could be struck with hundreds of pounds of ‘Asbo’ fines for playing football or feeding a neighbour’s cat.
Under a new UK law, the minimum age for receiving a Community Protection Notice (CPN) is being lowered from 16 to 10, to include primary school children.
The charge of on-the-spot fines will also be raised from £100 to £500.
Changes to the CPN – the successor to the Asbo – have sparked concern as complaints from “busybodies” could lead to a rise in orders being handed out.
The CPN replaced the Asbo in 2014
PA
Activities such as feeding a neighbour’s cat, letting your bins overflow, or failing to clean your windows, could all result in a CPN being issued.
The Government has said that the new fine amount “will help deter more people from breaching PSPOs and CPNs. As increased fines carry more weight, we expect this will have a greater impact on the reduction of ASB.”
They also said the age being lowered to 10 “will help the police and other agencies to intervene early to stop ASB by young children escalating”.
Josie Appleton, of the civil liberties group Manifesto Club, said: “CPNs can be written on the spot and include substantial restrictions on liberties such as barring a person from their town centre.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
“It is terrifying that children still in primary school would have to defend themselves against council lawyers if they want to challenge CPN restrictions such as bans on seeing friends or entering an area.”
CPNs were introduced in 2014 by then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2014 as a means for councils to curb anti-social behaviour.
They are issued in the form of a written warning setting out the “detrimental effect on the quality of life” the annoyances are causing.
CPNs were introduced in 2014 by then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2014
PAFlyde Council told the pensioner she must cease her actions or face a community protection notice and a fine of £100.
Those who fail to change their behaviour once being issued a CPN can even be taken to court.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are bringing the Community Protection Notice in line with the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales, which is ten years old.
“Persistent cases of anti-social behaviour cause misery for individuals and the wider community, which is why our Action Plan takes a zero-tolerance approach to tackling it.”