It was people the skaters own age that were reporting him, how does that work?
I stumbled across this thread looking for something else and did make me chuckle. The forum seems to be exceptionally polite these days ! Does anyone know what happened in the end with the guy's appeal ?
One thing Brits can't stand is people making a fuss and drawing attention to themselves (unless they are footballers or TV personalities bith big b**bs and even bigger egos). "Characters" are not well tolerated - unless they wear brown and (most importantly) regularly buy rounds at the local.
Oh - and for what it's worth I think the penalty was ridiculous in this case. Just as massive fines, bans and criminal records are for certain first victimless driving offences. There are other effective and proprortionate ways of matching sentencing to offence and the first step should always be to try to educate before dishing out punishment.
In Britain, your best chances of being treated lightly are to be an out and out rogue of young working age, viewed by the law as a problem case to be coaxed and cajoled into modifying your antisocial behaviour with endless chances. If you are a decent law-abiding citizen and put a foot wrong, you can usually expect to have the book thrown at you as "someone who should know better". Why ? There is no proportionality of response and good character / age can often work against you (unless you are a policeman, work in the legal profession or are a media personality). Pensioners are favourite soft targets a quick bashing.
I have seen far too much of it going on here - this is not a country which respects or values its elderly population, and it's no wonder many have difficulty growing old gracefully ! Perhaps we could learn something from the Chinese on this ...
China: Parents can sue children for neglect - Asia - World - The Independent