Pete Robinson: The law is an ass

A bar worker was fined £40 for dropping her cigarette end down a drain. Council officials told her that she was guilty of "contaminating" the drains.

The same fine, incidently, was handed to a Ribbleton man arrested in public with a stash of heroin. Another female bar worker was assaulted by a woman who was fined just £45 to cover costs.

A lorry driver was fined a total of £260 after being spotted smoking alone in the cab of his company-owned vehicle by a council dog warden, who took down his number. He had compounded his 'crime' by throwing the tiny remains of his roll-up out of the window.

Another lorry driver who killed a cyclist while reading papers was only fined £300.

A man is given fines totaling £338 for smoking a cigarette in smoking-rebel Nick Hogan's Barristers bar, in Bolton. Meanwhile a former carer who burgled frail and vulnerable old people by posing as a charity worker was given a suspended sentence and fined just £100.

Another paltry £100 fine was imposed on a young thug who punched a Blackburn landlord after being excluded for rowdy behaviour while out celebrating his 18th birthday.

A landlady at a Bourne End pub was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,256.64 in costs after rubbish she had paid to have taken away from the pub was found dumped in a lane by the contractors.

She was told she had "failed in her duty of care" at Wycombe Magistrates' Court.

Does anyone else think the law is an ass?