Man fined for sitting on bench[Germany-you can't sit at playground w/o being accompanied by a child]

Ananova ^ | 07:49 Friday 8th August 2003

[yonif]

A court in Germany has ordered a man to pay 75 euro for sitting on a park bench.

The man was sitting on the bench in the Botanical Garden in Munich when he was approached by police.

They told him he couldn't sit on the bench, next to a playground, unless he was accompanied by a child.

He later received a letter telling him to pay a 150 euro fine, but went to court.

The court heard the regulation had been established to protect playing children against drug addicts and prostitutes, who frequently come to the garden.

But the man said his only interest in the playground was to see whether it would be a nice place to take his daughter to on a planned weekend visit.

The judge offered to end the court case if the man paid 75 euro to a charity, which he accepted.

But he was still stunned at paying such a high price to sit down, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports.

"There weren't even any children around," he told the paper.

[presidio9]

...and you have a problem with this law?

[Tabi Katz]

I wonder how much this guy already paid for that bench in tax money.

[Drango]

Botanical Garden in Munich

Sniff a flower and the fine is doubled.

[yonif]

...and you have a problem with this law?

Not at all.

[jjbrouwer]

Good job it was a bench, not a deckchair, or the German would have stolen it, like they do on every summer holiday.

[TomGuy]

If Bloomberg/Davis hear of this scam, they will probably try it in NYC/Calif to get more revenues.

[GigaDittos]

No, it's a great socialist law. I'm sure the German authorities think they've protected the greater good.

[Prodigal Son]

What's with you and deck chairs today JJ? You didn't just get back recently from holiday did you? ;-)

[Prodigal Son]

Wow, this is madness. I hope this doesn't spread to the UK. I don't have any children to hand at the moment for chaperone duties. It would suck if I couldn't sit in the park anymore without borrowing the neigbor boy or girl.

[jjbrouwer]

Sorry about that. I shall refrain from making any more deckchair-related observations! Though I'm sure there were many German infractions on the beaches of the British Isles during the weekend's heatwave.

How hot did it get in Scotland, by the way?

[Prodigal Son]

Oh, you don't have to apologize, I was just wondering what was up with it...

It was muggy here. Good and hot but not so hot as in the South- or so I've heard. Nice weather all together. I didn't have to put on my fleece jacket the whole weekend at any rate ;-)

[boris]

Hey, Aqualung...

[StriperSniper]

But the man said his only interest in the playground was to see whether it would be a nice place to take his daughter to on a planned weekend visit.

Uv course it vas a good place to bring ze childrens, it vas provided by ze government for ze Volk! How dare he question ze government fazilities!

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

Lots of people stole deck chairs from the Titanic. They all drowned. Some were German, guess that makes you happy?

[jjbrouwer]

Your post makes little sense.

[jjbrouwer]

Sometimes the weather in Scotland is a law unto itself.

I was just reading about this 100 degree inferno. There were probably a lot of human lobsters on Brighton Beach over the weekend...

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

About as much as yours!

[DeFault User]

Evidently this law was designed to avoid the police having to "profile" park visitors. It would be soooo wrong for the cops to peg somebody as a prostitute or drug addict and shoo them out of the park. So they make it illegal for anyone to sit on a bench without a child present.

With such "zero tolerance" laws and regulations in force, it's no wonder that "Common Sense" committed suicide.

[dfwgator]

Beat me to it!