Fines for littering will rocket to £150 under plans to hit litter louts in the pocket

Last Updated: January 2, 2016By

At the moment, councils can levy fines of up to £80 – but the Government is now ready to recommend higher fixed penalties in a bid to stamp out people’s “selfish” behaviour

Source: Fines for littering will rocket to £150 under plans to hit litter louts in the pocket – Mirror Online

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No Comments

  1. roybeiley January 2, 2016 at 2:55 pm - Reply

    Strangely I tend to agree with the idea since litter is unnecessary. Enforcing it however is where it will fail.Councils will have to take summons to local magistrates court. Magistrate will taken into account defendants ability to pay the increased fine which if they are unemployed they will only impose token fine.

    • chriskitcher January 3, 2016 at 4:02 pm - Reply

      You can issue a fixed penalty notice but again the local authority officer has to have a name and address against which to issue the notice. Without LA officers having stronger powers to demand this information from offenders this legislation is just smoke and mirrors.

  2. amnesiaclinic January 2, 2016 at 5:25 pm - Reply

    Yup, go after the little people but the real polluters of the earth and water and sky get away with it.
    Destroying countries and dropping white phospherous or cluster bombs doesn’t count and isn’t “selfish’?
    Amazing the hypocrisy.

  3. Thomas January 2, 2016 at 6:29 pm - Reply

    They won’t bother the real louts as their wardens will most likely get beaten up if they do,and the rich will have connections and good lawyers to get away with it. So they’ll hassle two groups-the peaceful poor who can’t afford to pay anyway, and the middle classes.

  4. Dez January 2, 2016 at 7:47 pm - Reply

    Whilst I constantly and freely pick up discarded bottles, cans,litter whilst out walking, sometimes just feet from a litter bin as per the photograph, I do think the fine is over the top especially in a case where it is an accidental incident as opposed to blatant loutish behaviour. I just wonder how much of this increase is another income stream in disguise for the Councils to use to pay for the Government reducing Councils’ grants.

  5. joanna January 2, 2016 at 8:04 pm - Reply

    I agree with this but when it first came in, in Hull a toddler dropped a piece of sausage roll out of his mouth, the mother was charged £85, even though the evidence disappeared curtesy of pigeons. Some nice people in Hull paid it for her, but it can turn out crazy with some jobsworths. There has to be some consideration for others.

  6. joanna January 2, 2016 at 8:07 pm - Reply

    What I would definitely like to see, is adults fined heavily for riding bikes on pavements, that problem seems to be overlooked

  7. chriskitcher January 3, 2016 at 9:57 am - Reply

    The problem here is enforcement. To be proactive we need officers to be on the streets in sufficient numbers to witness offenses and for them to have stronger powers to demand the name and address of the offender. Without this the effect of increased fines is nullified.

  8. David January 3, 2016 at 12:55 pm - Reply

    Not often I think the government is right, but I agree with them on this. People on the continent have quite stringent attitudes towards litter louts and the French really take a pride in their. country

  9. homoerectus January 3, 2016 at 2:18 pm - Reply

    Good. It is damn selfish behaviour, that impacts on the rest of us, wildlife and nature and looks horrendous. The only way the yobs throwing McDonalds bags out of their car windows will stop being so selfish is by hitting their pockets.
    I’ve greater support for this measure than speeding fines.
    These litterers ruin the look and health of the country for the rest of us.

    • joanna January 3, 2016 at 3:47 pm - Reply

      Also I would like to see binmen fined personally for not emptying bins by missing them out, there are a lot of abandoned bins that are overflowing therefore causing some of the litter on the street.
      The binmen should do their jobs or lose them, my bin has been missed 3 times in 2 months and I am on assisted collection!

  10. Florence January 3, 2016 at 3:46 pm - Reply

    I live in a place where the environment is kept clean by the population, to the extent of picking up dog-poo (oh yes), even rubbish scattered by the gulls attacking bins on collection days. We are however constantly inundated with rubbish from the sea, and this is something a few council fines will not solve – the global litter problem, fly-tipping on land, and “disposal” en masse of waste at sea. It is a global problem.

    The main problem with street litter is the loss of street cleaning under council cuts, and the less frequent emptying of bins. I can recall the time that all bins were removed because of over-blown “terrorist” threats, so the first thing is the provision of bins, and the emptying of them, so rubbish actually stays in them. The council cuts have reduced maintenance of public spaces too, so that there is no real pride in places. Simply doubling the fines of those at the thin end of the wedge – like the food ejecting toddler – smacks more of revenue chasing. With face recognition software and CCTV everywhere, it’s going to be on a par with the motorists fines being generated now.

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