Wilful misinterpretation from the Daily Mail...

... in this article about a woman who was fined £75 for littering, headlined: "Smoker faces £2,500 fine... for dropping cigarette ash on pavement." As one heavily negatively rated comment said:

"Second SHE HAS NOT BEEN FINED £2500 FOR LITTERING!

She has been fined £75 for littering. The extra £2,425 is for being an idiot."

Damn right. As well as lying about the fine the Mail has seemingly lied about why she received the fine, in the first place, in their first line reporting that:

"An elderly widow has been threatened with a £2,500 fine by council officials for dropping cigarette ash on the pavement."

If that was indeed the case the woman in question is well within her rights to appeal, but in the penultimate paragraph, as usual buried, is the response from the council:

"'In general terms, however, our wardens do not issue fixed penalty notices for dropping cigarette ash. They do for dropping cigarette butts, which are specifically classed as litter under the Environmental Protection Act."

Ah, so she dropped the butt, so that's littering and although the fine may be heavy handed, she has no real defence.

And finally, another small lie, the woman is not being threatened with a £2,500 fine, if you look at the letter close up you can see that she could be liable for a fine of 'up to £2,500.' Just a small one, but it adds to the general deception of the article. Classic Mail.