Q Have hygiene officers gone too far in the key-dropping case?
I find it hard to believe that four male hygiene inspectors deliberately waited in ambush to catch a housewife dropping her house key and then issued her a penalty for littering.
Let's consider a few things.
Normal Hong Kong door keys come in sets of two or three - one key for the famous steel gate and one or two for the main door and back door. Perhaps in addition are letterbox keys and room keys. It's very unusual for anyone to carry just one key.
The housewife said she asked for the police to be called and they never arrived. Very unconvincing - dial 999 and the police will arrive.
The woman could have asked the officers to follow her back to her house and prove immediately that it was her door key. No litterbug would discard their own home key under any circumstances and her point would have been proven.
The key in question was a single key with a metal ring attached. This could imply two scenarios: the key was only one from a bunch of keys and it was removed and discarded deliberately, or; the key was simply an unwanted key discarded by the housewife. Both represent a deliberate littering offence.
