Would you admit to tossing a handful of boogers out the window? If your alternative is paying a $310 fine for littering, you might be eager to. That’s exactly the bizarre “he said vs. he said” an English driver finds himself in. And he’s willing to take the battle to court.

Seventy-year-old Les O’Donnell works part-time as a delivery driver. Translation: He covers a ton of miles. And yes, he smokes. But he has an ashtray in his van and claims he “detests” littering. So when he received a fine by mail for supposedly tossing a cigarette butt out the window, he knew something was wrong.

The citation was dated to September 2025 in his hometown of Coalville. O’Donnell thought it through and realized he was coming home from his physician. Then the rather embarrassing true story hit him.

“I’d been to the doctors that day as I was manufacturing a lot of mucus, and on the way back, I sneezed, and a huge lump of phlegm landed on my hand…I didn’t have a hanky with me, so I shook my hand out of the window to get rid of the mucus.”

The police fine was no small thing: £225 (about $310 USD). O’Donnell went to the city council office in person to fess up. Officials weren’t backing down. They demanded photographic evidence of his snot rocket before dismissing the ticket.

Obviously, O’Donnell didn’t snap a picture of the bogey. But he still plans to challenge the double standard in court. “Why is my word not worth as much as his? I’d love to see a picture if there is one, because I genuinely believe that it was me getting rid of phlegm.”