Bill Bryson heads new demands to prosecute litter louts

New laws in London provide an opportunity to get tough on litter louts - but will they make a difference?

A pilot scheme in London, where litter louts would be tracked down in the same way that police enforce speeding fines, could be enforced across the country.

Author Bill Bryson, president of the Campign for the Protection of Rural England, is calling for tougher penalties for litterers and urges councils to be more proactive in catching them. “Litterers and fly-tippers must be made to feel that there is a reasonable chance they will be caught and that, if caught, they will be given a punishment that is meaningfully painful,” he writes in The Times today.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is considering closing a loophole in the law that requires local authorities to prove the identity of the person who discards litter from cars. Under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 council wardens were given powers to issue fixed penalty notices of between £50 and £80. But wardens are having difficulty proving the identity of litter louts even if they know the vehicle registration number so most prosecutions fail.

The new powers, due to come into force in London in  June, are expected to result in a wider increase in the use of cameras and  will allow the capital’s boroughs to pursue registered keepers of vehicles to pay fines for litter thrown from their cars. If the fines are unpaid car owners face legal action through the civil courts or can be threatened with the bailiffs.

For the rest of this item from The Times Online click here

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