An apple a day may keep the doctor away but, in Northumbria, it seems a surefire way of attracting the police.

The case of the nursery nurse pulled over and given an on-the-spot fine for holding an apple while negotiating a left-hand turn has provoked widespread derision.

It follows other reports about a smoker fined £135 in Liverpool for dropping a used match in the street and a youth in Manchester given a fixed penalty ticket for playing Riverdance too loudly on his car stereo.

The kneejerk reaction has been "haven't the police got anything better to do?".

In the case of nursery nurse Sarah McCaffery, much has been made of the fact that police used a helicopter, plane and squad car to gather evidence for the case which was only completed after ten court appearances.

Well, once Miss McCaffery decided to fight the case, then the police were obliged to gather this evidence and they insist the cost was minimal as the aircraft were already in the air on other operations.

I don't have a problem with police officers intervening in this way though I do feel there are times when a warning would suffice.

Usually, this is down to the reaction of the person pulled over. The object is to ensure the individual does not commit further offences. So if they are courteous and accept they were wrong, the officer may well think they have learned their lesson.

That's one of the drawbacks of the way so many speeding fines are now effectively dished out by cameras these days. Previously, a police officer on the spot could decide whether it was really necessary to fine someone or whether a lecture would suffice.

I don't know what Miss McCaffery's attitude towards the officer was so I cannot really judge whether he was heavy handed. But clearly Miss McCaffery did not accept she had done anything wrong as she continued to pursue the matter through the courts - resulting in the police having to go to further public expense in gathering evidence.

What I hope now is that the police use the same interventionist tactics when policing the streets.

The police are very good when hunting in a pack, detecting serious crime, combating burglary and marshalling the likes of football matches.

Where they sometimes fall down is in intervening on an individual basis to prevent anti-social behaviour on the streets.

So next time PC Lee Butler sees youths intimidating pedestrians by blocking a footpath, I expect him to intervene as he did with the apple munching nursery nurse.

If PC Butler or any officer sees yobs shouting and swearing in the street, I expect them to step in and take matters in hand.

Turning a blind eye in these situations is unacceptable because it gives the yob confidence, his behaviour will worsen and the watching public will lose faith in the police.

If the confronted miscreant is courteous and recognises the error of his ways, then a warning may suffice - but if not, then the full force of the law should be brought to bear, just as it was for Miss McCaffery.

After all, we cannot have one law for nursery nurses and another for drunken yobs and hooligans.