That's what Camden council in north London has done. Despite having won 50 prosecutions for flyposting over the past two years against major record labels (BMG and Sony are mentioned), the council had not succeeded in diminishing (far less eliminating) the practice, probably because the fines are relatively low (only upto GBP750-), paltry when compared with the costs for similar 'advertising' by legitimate means.
The tool the council have identified to allow them to tackle the problem effectively has been to threaten, in their personal names, senior executives of the firms concerned with ASBOs (anti-social behaviour orders), a tactic more usually associated with unruly teenagers. Richard Gruet, the council's head of litigation, in speaking of the new tactic said it represented:
| "a really good alternative way of bringing this case to the companies involved in a way that they couldn't ignore." |
Other councils are apparently interested in following Camden and the council is looking at prosecutions against upto 50 other companies and organisations, including some of the minor political parties. Sounds good to me.
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