So a man is fined £665 for throwing a beer can to the floor in Bicester and another was fined £887 for leaving the remains of a Big Mac meal on a bench in Banbury (Oxford Mail, October 18).

I have come to the conclusion that there are only two ways to escape littering fines.

The first and most obvious is not to drop litter in the street. The second, and probably the most difficult of the two, is to act like a tree after the litter is dropped. The litter police are not at all interested in fining trees for all the leaves they drop.

Here is how it works. Drop your litter, then stand completely still, with both feet firmly affixed to the ground.

An arm-waving movement may help in convincing the litter police that its branches are swaying in the wind.

The odd rustling sound may be good too but if asked for personal details, just remain silent — they will soon give up and go away. A word of warning to litter depositors acting as trees — beware of the dogs.

I must apologise to the two men mentioned who both got fined for not giving out this valuable piece of information earlier.

It may have saved them from throwing their money away.

CHRIS BOSWELL Williamson Way Rose Hill Oxford