I read your story about a man fined £500 for dropping a cigarette butt on the pavement. I have been issued with a £500 fixed-penalty notice (FPN) by Haringey council for putting a butt in a refuse sack awaiting collection on the street. The council claims that this counts as littering because the sack was not a public bin, even though it was filled with rubbish. It has threatened prosecution if I don’t pay. I haven’t knowingly dropped litter since I was a child, and am outraged at this extortionate fine. TW, London In principle I support penalties for littering that despoils and disfigures our streets, but in your case it was not littering as most of us would understand it. Moreover, the level of fines for first or ambiguous offences is concerning, as is the lack of transparency and accountability. Councils are allowed to issue on-the-spot fines of up to £500 which, unlike penalty charge notices for parking breaches, can’t be appealed.…