|
Clamping down on litter louts on wheels has become easier thanks to Bradford Council’s use of new laws which stop vehicle owners dodging responsibility.
Environmental enforcement officers have collected the first Penalty Charge Notice fee from the registered keeper of a vehicle from which litter was dumped, rather than having to identify the specific culprit.
Now if litter is dropped from a vehicle, the keeper of the vehicle, identified through the registration number, can be held responsible whoever threw it out.
Enforcement officers wanted to bring the law into force earlier this year but the Covid-19 outbreak delayed its implementation.
Dropping litter from a vehicle results in a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100, reduced to £80 if it is paid within two weeks.
If the civil penalty is not paid on time, the amount automatically doubles. The Council can recover unpaid amounts as a civil debt or via a county court order.
To issue a civil penalty for littering from a vehicle, enforcement officers have to be satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, litter was thrown from that vehicle.
In order to ensure that officers only take enforcement action where offence has been committed, the Council will only consider reports from members of the public where video evidence, for example dashcam footage, is submitted.
Members of the public can report litter via the Council website or send dashcam footage to the e-mail address: nsadmin@bradford.gov.uk.
Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “I can’t stress enough that the Council’s preferred income from littering Fixed Penalty Notices would be nothing at all, as this would show that people cared enough about their environment to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.
“It is frustrating that we have to use legislation such as this to penalise the minority of anti-social people who would happily leave our roads and pavements strewn with litter.
“This not about money, it is about pride in our district which starts from the bottom up and I hope word gets around quickly that the likelihood of litter louts being held responsible for their actions has now significantly increased.
“If anyone sees anyone committing litter offences, we would ask them to report it to Bradford Council and help us stamp out this menace.”
|
