By Six people taken to court over dodged littering fines
Six residents of North Lincolnshire have finally been forced to pay their littering fines in court this week.
The offenders had to pay court costs and a victim surcharge on top of their fines after they were caught littering in the local area.
This resulted in them having to pay up to £440 when they could have paid the original £150 or avoided the fine altogether if they had just followed the rules.
This comes after the area has had repeated problems with littering and fly-tipping over recent years.
A total of 1,279 people have been fined since the North Lincolnshire Council set up their litter enforcement scheme last November.
Enforcement officers working with LA Support patrolled the region, fining anybody that littered, which included dog fouling.
Alongside this, 1,000 volunteers aided in removing litter from the whole of the North Lincolnshire county.
The litter enforcement scheme ended last month, but the NLC have launched a new portal where locals can upload their photographs and videos (including dash-cam footage) of any litterers or fly-tippers.
The Council’s efforts are all in support of decreasing the £1m plus that is spent cleaning up other people’s messes every year.
Cllr Rob Waltham, Leader of the NLC, previously said: “We are taking an even tougher stance on environmental crime.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy to those people who drop waste on the ground for someone else to collect.
“Residents have voiced their increasing concerns about litter and this new campaign is a real statement of intent; dropping litter and failing to clean up after your dog is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated across our communities.
“Littering is a blight and dog fouling is a health hazard which can cause serious infections, particularly in young people, bringing a host of unpleasant side effects.
“It is antisocial behaviour and there is no room for rubbish excuses.”
