text: More than 1,000 crimes have been created by the Coalition in a frenzy of law-making – including a ban on washing clothes in Trafalgar Square. The legislative splurge is equivalent to introducing a new law for every working day. In the Coalition agreement, the Tories and Lib Dems pledged to roll back Labour’s ‘state intrusion’, promising a bonfire of pointless powers. But research shows the Government has invented 22 ways of criminalising the public every month. The so-called crimes include diving into the Thames without authority, queue-jumping at a Tube station and hogging the middle lane of a motorway. Making it an offence to wash or dry clothes in Parliament or Trafalgar squares was designed to prevent protesters setting up camp at tourist spots. Offenders can be fined £200. Between May 2010 and May 2014 – the latest year for which information is available – ministers created 1,073 offences. During the 13 years Labour was in power, 4,300 offences were placed on the statute book – approximately one every day. Meanwhile, other antiquated laws remain in force that are simply baffling. Londoners planning to do some DIY can load timber straight into their car, but under section 54 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 it is illegal to carry a plank across a pavement, punishable with a £500 fine. Spring cleaning can also put a person on the wrong side of the law. Section 28 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 makes it an offence to beat a carpet in a London street after 8am. Ben Rose, a partner at law firm Hickman & Rose, which carried out the research, said: ‘The law-making machine has become an unstoppable juggernaut.’ More than 1,000 crimes have been created by the Coalition in a frenzy of law-making – including a ban on washing clothes in Trafalgar Square (above) Josie Appleton, of the Manifesto Club, which campaigns against excessive regulation, said: ‘Creating so many trivial crimes brings the law into disrepute.’ The Ministry of Justice said 696 crimes had been removed from the statute books over the four-year period – meaning the net number of new laws was 377. Here are some of the more unusual crimes created since May 2010: . Old crimes still enforceable: .
target: Splurge is equivalent to introducing a new law for every working day .
  Include diving into the Thames without authority and hogging middle lane .
  Meanwhile other antiquated laws remain in force that are simply baffling .