There are increasing demands for litterers to face penalties in the form of penalty points on their driving licenses if they are caught discarding trash from their vehicles or engaging in fly-tipping.
Former Tory chair Baroness Warsi and campaign group Clean Up Britain are cracking down on the issue.
The organization’s volunteers have placed 87 cameras across 19 counties to capture footage of drivers illegally dumping garbage, which is then passed on to local authorities for the purpose of issuing fines.
The Baroness said ‘draconian action’ is needed and wants more severe fines.
She also wants drivers to get three penalty points on their driving licences if they are caught dumping litter.
She also supports implementing number plate recognition that links packaging to buyers to figure out who threw it.
‘People think that this is a crime where they’re not going to be caught’, she told The Times.
John Read, the founder of Clean Up Britain, has previously drawn parallels between reporting individuals who litter and reporting perpetrators of violent crimes such as mugging or stabbing.
Former Tory chair Baroness Warsi and campaign group Clean Up Britain are cracking down on the issue of fly tippers
Litter-pickers the next morning found the deluge of waste that was left behind in the eco park
‘What I’d say is, if you were going down the street for instance you saw somebody mugging or even putting a knife in someone’s back, would you just walk on…or would you bother actually getting on the police?’
The campaigner also believes that the UK’s current fine policy when it comes to littering, which at the moment gives authorised personnel the power to charge up to £150 for an offence, is not harsh enough. If prosecute, litter bugs could be fined as much as £2,500 if convicted in court.
John, however, wants a £1,000 on the spot fines for all litterers.
‘The whole point about fining is that it has to be a deterrent for people,’ he stressed.
‘It’s not a tax, we all have to pay taxes…it’s a fine. If you’re socially responsible, if you keep to the law, you don’t need to worry about it.’
Moreover, John says we’re living in ‘anarchy England’ as he stressed that it’s a difficult crime to detect on motorways.
In 2023, campaigners threatened to take National Highways to court if it does not fulfil its duty to clean up the litter-strewn motorway network.
It comes after brazen fly-tippers were caught on video plaguing a North London neighbourhood by dumping truckloads of rubbish in eco parks, alleys and gateways.
Locals in Harrow have called the borough an ‘environmental disaster’ after years of fly-tipping have made their streets look like a ‘a recycling centre’.
Rubbish included carpet, boxes, timber, cupboard doors, filled sacks and mattresses
Last month, two men were caught on camera ignoring the traffic passing them on a busy road as they force an entrance into an eco park before their accomplices drive up with two full lorry-loads of rubbish.
The men were recorded prowling in the darkness on the night of January 10 outside the small wooded area which is the source of the River Roxbourne.
The gate to Newton Farm Ecology Park was already wide open but it was still not large enough to accommodate the lorries that were lying in wait until the two men crowbarred off part of the frame.
Harrow Council shared the ‘disgusting’ video in a bid to identify the ‘shameless and irresponsible’ duo.
The council confirmed that investigations were ongoing to find the fly-tippers but they had ‘issued three fixed penalty notices for breach of householders duty of care’.
They are the latest offenders whose dumping antics have been highlighted by the council’s ‘Wall of Shame’ on YouTube.
‘Our cameras have caught offenders in action and we need your help in identifying them,’ the council wrote as it launched the site in October last year.
‘Fly-tipping isn’t just disgusting, it’s a criminal offence and carried out by those who have no respect for their neighbourhood and those around them.’
‘It will also help send a strong message to anyone else who thinks this behaviour is OK.’
