Russell Stansfield might just be the first person in history to be legally banned from using any coin-operated machine. The order, which remains in effect until 2020, was handed down by a Manchester court after Stansfield was caught pinching money from a parking meter and confessed to having committed a number of similar crimes.
“It’s just weird if I’m honest, there are so many things I can’t do,” the petty thief told Manchester Evening News upon hearing the court’s decision. “If I’m at the hospital for hours for example I can’t buy any food from the machines.”
The ban goes a little beyond just a simple “don’t use coin machines,” though. In a way, it dictates where Stansfield is allowed — or rather, where he’s not allowed — to go. As the local paper pointed out, in addition to the coin machine ban, he can’t do any of the following for the next five years:
Visit any hospital or its car parks unless visiting a patient or being treated
Visit any airport or its car parks unless using it for travel in which case he needs proof
Touch, interfere or use a pay phone unless contacting the emergency services
Loiter near any public transport ticket machines unless buying a ticket in which case he needs to go up to the machine only once, buy the ticket and leave.
Sounds like Stansfield might need to learn a new trade.