A woman has been fined £100 for setting up a camping table in Leicester city centre. Heather Rawling claimed it was a political move to prevent her from campaigning about financial cuts at the council, and said she would rather go to court than pay.
The 72-year-old was fined under anti-social behaviour rules introduced in April. Leicester City Council said the public space protection order (PSPO) does not restrict free speech, and the fine handed out on May 31 was purely due to the unauthorised table structure. Mrs Rawling, who is a member of the Socialist Party, could face a fine of £1,000 if the breach goes to court for prosecution.
She said: “I accept the PSPO can be needed to deal with people on e-bikes, noisy speakers or street drinkers. But this was a small camping table which we had for leaflets and so people could sign a petition.
“I don’t think we were in anybody’s way. There’s plenty of space. We weren’t being a nuisance. I think this was political – we were asked to take it down because we were campaigning about council cuts. It was all very amicable.
“The warden asked me to take it down. I said I would not and he issued a fine. I’m not going to pay it on principle, and if I have to go to court, I will.”
The Leicester local said she was campaigning against cuts to public services at the city council, including potential closures of community centres and job losses in the public sector.
A council spokesperson said: “The PSPO does not restrict freedom of speech, but it does restrict the nuisance of amplifiers, gazebos and other structures that more than 1,100 respondents to our consultation told us negatively impacted their experience of Leicester city centre.
“Many groups have been respectful of this so far and, as a result, the environment in the city centre is noticeably improved.”
“This group had put up a table, in breach of the public spaces protection order (PSPO) that covers the city centre.
“One of our wardens asked them to take down the table and advised that if they didn’t, they would be issued with a fixed penalty notice. They refused to take it down and so a fine was issued.”
Leicester’s mayor Sir Peter Soulsby told the BBC: “There’s absolutely nothing in the PSPO that prevents people from going out and trying to persuade people on political matters – if they do it without a table or gazebo or loud speaker.”
The council confirmed three other fixed penalty notices were issued in May under the new rules, all relating to unauthorised use of unauthorised structures.