Enforcement firms employed by local councils are slapping good-natured litter pickers with huge fines after accusing them of fly-tipping.
A national crackdown on anti-social behaviour announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year promised to rid Britain’s streets of nuisance incidents “once and for all”.
But campaigners are argue private firms with local authority contracts to issue fines for problematic issues such as graffiti, are now accusing people who are picking up rubbish of fly-tipping.
They say the push to crackdown on anti-social behaviour means more fines are being issued using “aggressive” tactics, according to the Daily Mail.
Littering is punishable with fines of up to £1,000 and a poll conducted by Consumer Intelligence found four in five people accused of fly-tipping believe their punishment was unfair.
Jane Pearce, aged 70, told the Mail she received a fine of £400 from Camden Council after sweeping up litter and depositing it in a wheelie bin.
She said: “I thought, ‘I’m doing the citizenly thing’, but never again. I was so shocked.”
Camden council said it had received complaints from residents that rubbish was being put in bins by people who did not live there.
In February dementia nurse Susan Watson, 68, said she was pursued by an enforcement officer and fined £100 for scattering a slice of bread to feed the ducks.
She said: “He went on to say that what I did could be seen as fly-tipping, which is a much bigger offence. It was one slice of bread.
“He told me I was on camera and that I had committed an environmental infringement.”
The fine was later refunded. Tory MP Robin Millar said: “local authorities are turning a blind eye to the behaviour of the private contractors they use, when they profit from the fines issued.”
Josie Appleton, director of campaign group the Manifesto Club, told the Mail she was contacted weekly by people concerned they had been unfairly fined.
She said private firms were often “paid per fine” and so were “incentivised to issue as many as possible”.
The group said a total of 66 councils employed private agencies to police fly-tipping with 90 per cent of them paying per fine issued, according to the data.
A Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said: “Fines should never be used as a means to raise revenue.”
