But Anisah Hussein's father says officials should spend more time educating children about the issue instead of taxing their mums and dads.
Akhtar Hussein, who reluctantly paid the fine, said: "I don't condone littering. I know it's a big problem, but fining children isn't the answer.
"It's not an effective deterrent because their parents have to pay the money for them. We should be teaching children about litter and encouraging them to protect the environment instead." Anisah, a pupil at Falinge Park High, Rochdale, was walking home with pals when she tore up a piece of paper and threw it away. Two council enforcement officers saw her and gave her the fixed-penalty notice.
Mr Hussain, a council IT worker who lives in Rochdale, was told he would have to go to court if the fine was not paid within 14 days. He handed over the cash before the deadline, but says he is disappointed that children as young as 12 are being targeted in the street.
He said:"Anisah was shocked and frightened to say the least. I've always taught my children not to drop litter, but like all children they sometimes make mistakes. I don't condone dropping litter and agree that something needs to be done to stop people making a mess of the town.
"But fines are not the answer. Officers should be going into schools and telling children why they should not drop litter instead of asking them to pay up when they do. I believe people have gone into schools to tell children about the penalties. But that's not educating children. It's just telling them they could be fined."
A council spokesman said children over the age of 10 could be held responsible and fined for dropping litter. He said environmental officers spent a "considerable amount" of time in high schools talking about fixed penalty fines. They had visited Falinge Park High in February and all age groups had been given the facts. Letters were sent to schools for children to take home.
Jim Fish, Rochdale council's street services manager, said, "The council does not make any exceptions. However, before issuing tickets to schoolchildren, we arranged for the council's co-ordinator to visit all high schools to talk to children about littering and explain what might happen if they were caught dropping it."
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If you don't drop litter you won't be fined maybe she has learned her lesson which the fine is all about. Good on the council as more and more follow suit maybe we will end up with cleaner streets which are a benifit to all.
Excellent decision. Start 'em young and teach them not to make our towns (particularly Rochdale) look dirty and nmaintained.
Why do some parents always try and put the responsibility for their childrens actions onto others,not dropping litter is not a hard concept to learn or teach.
Perhaps if Anisah's parents had educated their daughter regarding the consequences of littering - as opposed to relinquishing this responsibility to teachers - the youngster would not have committed the offence that led to this fine.
Parents and guardians have a duty to instil acceptable levels of behaviour to their charges and, as such, should be responsible for the actions or their children.
Unfortunately, here in Didsbury, it is largely the adults who are responsible for depositing enormous amounts of take-away cartons - and irresponsible dog-owners - who appear to litter and foul pavements and roads with impunity.
Maybe Manchester City Council should take a leaf out of Rochdale's book and clean their act up.
What do these people expect if they want to live in a clean society they must do what everybody else does and that is to stop making a mess of the place we live in i know some of the people in our communitys dont really want to comply but they will have to !!!
If this girl is old enough to litter the streets & be aware of the environmental issues it causes then she is old enough to pay the penalty. If her father is so disturbed about the fact that he has to pay for his daughters actions then he should take her to task about it. Its not the council's fault that this child has little or no respect for the environment. I hope that the council keeps this up & fines as many people, of any age, as possible.
Thats right! Blame someone else. How is it the responsibilty of the council to spend money educating children on common sense matters such as this, when most children have at least one parent who should be teaching them to respect the environment and others.
I am glad this girls father says that he does teach his daughter not to drop litter, however as this has proven he has not taught her effectively enough. It is not a mistake to drop litter, its just sheer bone idleness, ignorance, and show lack of respect for others.
Full marks to the council on this one. Its about time we started charging the ones responsible for making Manchester look disgraceful.
Well done Rochdale council,it is about time inconsiderate people wake up to the fact all they need to do is put your empty toffee wrapers in your pocket to take home or, use a flaming bin.......its not rocket science.And how this parent says about educating people about dropping litter,arent they the ones responsable for telling there kin it is socially unacceptable.
I hope all councils bring this into action and clean up our streets,heavier fines should be brought into consideration for dog foul,as the streets of Oldham are a disgrace.
Surely if anyone should be teaching her not to drop litter, it should be her own parents and not the council. They are quite right to fine her. Why should other people have to live in scruffy litter strewn areas just because of a minority of people who aren't taught by their parents to use a litter bin. Maybe now, she will have some respect for the area she lives in.
I think it's perfectly right that Anisah was given a fine - dropping litter isn't a 'mistake'.....it's just a matter of common courtesy and decent morals and respect which unfortunately these days seems to be omitted too often.
It's up to parents to teach their children right and wrong, schools have got enough to do.
I wonder if the girl had have been white, would she have gotten off with a warning?
I can't believe I'm the first person to leave a comment.
It is absolutly right that this 12 year old was given a fine for dropping litter.
For her father to bleat that it should be for the 'system' to teach her better manners speaks volumes -- parental failure!
I have two happy, well-adjusted kids who would never, ever, drop litter on the street.
That is the way they have been brought up. I suggest that Mr Hussein does the same.
I think the penalty is harsh for a child of 12. I wasnt aware that children could be fined. The council should target the worst hit areas like outside takeaways.
Children should be giben an option to pick up the litter and their parnts should be informed.
I fail to see why the tax payer should pay for children to be educated on waste management. When will parents begin to take some responsibilty for proper upbringing of children? My local authority goes to the trouble (and expense) of providing boxes for the collection of bottles and cans but some households have stuck them in garden sheds with no intention of using them for their proper purpose. Yet some of these regularly have half a dozen sackfuls of rubbish for the weekly collection. There needs to be stronger laws with heavy penalties for those who are reckless with refuse. Parents need to start setting an example in their own homes.
It's her father's responsibilty to educate the child, not the council's. And if she doesn't know at 12 that it's wrong to litter, it could be construed he's not done a very good job of it.
This story is just the tip of the iceberg!!
it's the young people who SHOULD be targeted, they ARE the litter louts.
I see it every day, crisp bags, toffee bar wrappings,soft drink cartons/bottles,and with the 16 to 25yr olds beer cans and alchopop bottles.
Parents should be fined, then they might instruct their children to take their litter home.
Parental responsibility! We can not expect anybody else to teach our children such basic issues (although in this case it seems the council has attempted to do this). Hopefully the fine and the sheer shock of being caught and disciplined, will be lesson enough for at least one person to stop mindless littering.
I would have thought it was the parents' responsibility to teach children about dropping litter. It is anti-social, and most anti-social behaviour is displayed because parents do not teach their children the simple rights and wrongs in society.
why oh why is it allways somebody else who should teach children how to behave and not the parents,never mind blame the govenment or the teachers.
Stop moaning and pay the fine. Maybe next time she won't drop litter. And parents should be educating their children not to drop litter, not the officials. Everyone wants a free ride in this country
there should be more of this happening, and lets not forget industrial rubbish being dumped onto our streets aswell!!
Anisah Hussein's father says officials should spend more time educating children about the issue instead of taxing their mums and dads.
I spent MY time educating MY children about basic life style, i.e. not dropping litter, and not playing football in the street and respect for other people.
Stop putting the blame on others, the one to blame is the one who dropped the litter.
as a former manchester resident and now living here, we were over in manchester for a prolonged visit last year.we could hardly avoid noticing that manchester is indeed a very mucky city, and especially in the suburbs.we also could not help noticing that school children were the main culprits of the litter dropping.
Stop bleating Mr Hussain. The streets are filthy and a mess because people like your daughter chuck rubbish everywhere. She was caught and fined...pay the fine and EDUCATE YOUR OWN DAUGHTER instead of expecting others to do it! You could try getting her to repay you out of her pocket money....
But she dropped the litter so should be fined - I wish more people were fined for dropping their rubbish. They wouldn't drop it on the floor at home so why is it ok outside?