Drivers to be fined £80 for littering – even if it wasn’t them

In what seems like a continuing war on motorists, drivers will face £80 fines which could rise to £2,500 for litter being thrown from their vehicle, even if the driver themselves did not throw it.

Ministers are considering changing the law via the Localism Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, so that motorists are responsible for any rubbish which comes out of their own vehicles. Council Officers will take down number plates as well as using CCTV cameras to identify offenders. Fines will then be issued to the owner of the vehicle. If the owner cannot identify who actually dropped the litter, they must pay the £80 fine. If drivers refuse, they could face a magistrates’ court, with a fine up to £2,500. This is designed to stop appeals and to scare motorists into paying quickly.

Clyde Loakes, vice-chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board said that litter louts are currently getting away scot-free, and closing the current loophole should cover some of the £850m needed to keep streets clean.

"It's time to get tough on lazy, selfish people who toss rubbish from moving cars and expect other people to cover the cost of cleaning it up," he added.

The potential change to the law comes after councils and environmental campaigners have pressed for years, claiming the current system makes it nearly impossible to prosecute drivers for littering.

Of course littering can be a problem on roads, as well as occasionally being dangerous when vehicles are moving at speed, but this seems like yet another attempt to raise council funds by enforcing harsh penalties on drivers, who may not have even known about the littering. Local councils should look at reducing their costs in this financial climate before spying on people in cars in an effort to impose draconian fines.

Comments

[Montybasset]

Not really, if you throw crap out of your car, a deliberate act of lowering a window and releasing your rubbish into the enviroment, then you should pay to have it cleaned up. There isn't really an excuse, even my 8 year old knows this, I just asked her.

[Rob]

We should take this idea to its logical conclusion: if the person who dropped litter on a public road can't be identified, the local authority should be fined.

[BBW]

This is more BBW newsworthy:

Drivers who don't renew car insurance on time to be clamped even if its on their own propery!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378219/Drivers-dont-renew-insurance-time-face-having-car-clamped.html

[Paul Dean]

Although laws and penalties are bad generally, I'm tempted by this one because it is so disgusting to see someone hurl a KFC box out of their car window into the street. As a driver I know who is doing what in the car and I have the power to stop it, just the same as seat belts. The problem of course is that self-important officials will use it if I throw an apple core into a field or something ridiculous.

[Dick Puddlecote]

I'd be less inclined to object to this if there was any remote likelihood that cases would be assessed individually.

Paul: You're driving along a dual carriageway and your 6 year old kid throws a box out of the window. You can't stop and pick it up as it's an ureban clearway. Presumably, the driver (you) would get an £80 fine if it was spotted despite screaming blue murder at your kid who wasn't fully aware of how wrong it is.

Another example, true this time, but along the same lines. I picked my kid up from school when he was 7 and he had made a mask in class from recycled materials. It was a warm day and the windows were open. A gust caught it and blew it out of his hands and out of the window. Again, it was on a road where I couldn't stop. He was in floods of tears as he really liked it, so was in no way intentional. £80 fine.

Would these cases be looked upon sympathetically? I very much doubt it.

[Purlieu]

I hope this includes cigarette butts.
Most of which are still alight when thrown !!!

[Charles Magus]

Another scam to fleece the public!

[NeverSurrender]

This is totally wrong. How can it be fair to punish someone for the misdeeds of someone else? A driver is concentrating on driving and cannot see everything going on in the car. Even if they did see someone chucking something out of the window what could they do about it apart from asking that person not to do it again? I am not condoning littering as I get really angry when I see it happening but unfair laws make me even angrier. This is a bad idea that would only result in innocent people being fined. It should be consigned to the bin along with the litter where it belongs.

[Llloyd George]

I can't stand it when people dump rubbish but this is not the right way to tackle the problem as it is unfair.

[Demeter]

Totally for this one.

It is not a "human right" to sh1t on your neighbour.

I spend an afternoon once a month clearing up all the crap thrown out of passing cars from the verges outside the house. It is a hundred times worse here in the country because a) the selfish scum know no-one is watching; b) the council can't be arsed.

It is not the council's job to teach grown-ups not to be mindless filthy louts, nor is it its job to clean up after the lazy twats. But if people can't even begin to think about respecting the space of others, which the evidence I pick up shows they cannot, then maybe, just maybe, a damned good thwhack around the cheque-book will change their behaviour.

Not holding my breath though.

[David Cooper]

Another nail in the coffin of due process and natural justice. Of course we'd all welcome the prospect of more chavs being brought to book for deliberately throwing Maccy D wrappers and lager cans out of their car windows, but isn't it far more likely in practice - given the many tales of how the flytipping legislation has been heavy handedly applied to the wrong targets - that council enforcers would prefer to use new powers like this to focus on accidents and trivia?

[peterloo]

I find it so sad that people like Dementer find this acceptable because it means he isnt inconvenienced.

They just dont seem to have the capacity to see that laws like this will lead us down a path where the state is able to charge anyone with anything and the accused has no right of reply or defence.

You truly are myopic sheep!

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[Paul Dean]

Dick Puddlecote: the child would find £80 deducted from birthday presents, Christmas presents, activities he enjoys until it is paid off. Similarly, if it was an adult they would have to pay me back or lose a friend.

But on balance I do agree with you - I just don't think it's an easy call.

[Purlieu]

This won't happen so calm down.

[Ken]

Imagine a someone driving along the road. He or she hears a window in the back open and the rustle of an empty crisp packet.
The fear of a fine will distract their attension.
Whilst distracted, a situation could occur for which they are ready.
Someone could die to satiate the greed of these councils.

[Demeter]

@Peterloo 5/5/2011 01:12 pm, I don't think you read my post properly. The second thing I wrote was that it is not a "human right" to crap on someone else.

This is the logical conclusion of your position - that incontinent adults be free to sling their detritus anywhere they please for someone else to clear up after them - as long as *they themselves* are not inconvenienced by having to take their own waste with them for their disposal.

Let us be clear - I am not inconvenienced by these litter louts. No, not all. I am wiping their social arses for them.

Now, if this leads to the suspension of habeas corpus throughout the land - a state that in fact already exists in several dark and rank corners of UK law and about which I bow to no man in my abhorrence thereof - who would be to blame ?

The lazy twat who really should know better or those trying to beat some inkling of social responsibility into his/her selfish skull ?

[Little Black Sambo]

"This won't happen so calm down."
It already has. Perhaps the courts can restrain these Nazis.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1194138/Teenager-hauled-court-baby-niece-drops-wrapper.html