CCTV and new legal powers aimed at catching and fining drivers who litter from their cars

By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER
Updated:

Drivers who throw litter from their cars are to be fined £80 – as CCTV and new legal powers are deployed in a clampdown.

Many louts escape prosecution because of a loophole which means police or council wardens have to identify the person who dropped the rubbish, and not just the owner of the car.

Rubbish strewn at the roadside after being flung from a car

Eyesore: Rubbish strewn at the roadside after being flung from a car

Under the clampdown, officers will take pictures of offenders and also use CCTV. And the burden of proof will shift so the registered owner of a car has to provide evidence they were not driving at the time in order to escape a fixed-penalty fine.

An amendment to the Localism Bill, to be debated in the Lords this month, will mean littering cases can be prosecuted in the same way as speeding offences.

Campaigner Peter Silverman, who set up the website www.cleanhighways.co.uk after being disgusted by the rubbish along the M40 in the Thames Valley, welcomed the move last night.

He said: ‘It is very difficult for local authorities to fine the perpetrators of littering from vehicles as they are obliged to identify the individual responsible. It will be so much easier if they just have to record the registration number.’

Roadside litter costs around £850 million a year to clean up.

Most watched News videos