Man, 86, Fined Over $300 for Littering
Because He Spit Out a Leaf That Blew into His Mouth:
'Unnecessary' Roy Marsh ended up paying a lesser amount after the fee was later reduced on appeal
December 14, 2025
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Roy Marsh.Credit : Jane Marsh Fitzpatrick/Facebook
NEED TO KNOW
- A man was fined hundreds of dollars because he spit out a leaf that blew into his mouth
- Roy Marsh, 86, ended up paying a lesser amount after the fee was later reduced on appeal
- "It was all unnecessary," the elderly man said of the enforcement issue
An elderly man was fined for an unusual reason.
Roy Marsh, 86, was in Lincolnshire, England, earlier this year, when he spit out a leaf that blew into his mouth, leading to a fine.
"As I was sitting there, a gale blew a big reed into my mouth," he recalled to the BBC, referring to the plant part of the grass family. "I spat it out, and just as I got up to walk away, two [enforcement officers] came up to me."
Marsh told the outlet that one of the officers told him they saw him spitting on the floor, which led to the elderly man calling the local enforcer a "silly boy."
"It was all unnecessary and all out of proportion," Marsh said, per the BBC.
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