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How do I report littering?

Cleaning up dropped litter such as cigarette stubs, food wrappers and gum is a major financial burden to many local authorities including ours.

  • Street cleansing cost UK tax payers about £1 billion an year.
  • 30 million tonnes of litter is collected each year (that is equivalent to 4 Wembley stadiums full of litter!).
  • In the UK 122 tonnes of cigarette related litter is dropped everyday – a total of 23 billion cigarette ends discarded every year.

We are committed to fighting against environmental crime and taking action against those responsible, to enable residents and visitors within our district to feel proud and safe of the area that they live in.

Penalty

The offence of littering carries a maximum penalty of a £2,500 fine.

We have the authority to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice of £500 to someone if they are caught littering. A Fixed Penalty Notice offers an individual the opportunity to discharge their liability.

All Fixed Penalty Notices are logged and failure to pay them within the time frame given could lead to a summons to a Magistrates Court. If an individual feels they have mitigating circumstances they can arrange to speak to the case officer who will explain what options are available.

Have you witnessed a littering offence?

Gaining enough information is essential to allow us to take action against those that litter. You can report an incident online. Information about the incident that could help us includes:

  • Offender  description (gender, age, build, hair style/colour)
  • Offender details (if known – name,  address)
  • What was the litter? (cigarette, drink can, food packaging, etc)
  • Location, date and time of incident
  • What did you see? Describe the incident. An example could be... I saw a can of pop thrown by the (offender) while walking down (street/location).

Litter offence from a vehicle

We also have the authority to take action against those who litter from a vehicle. Again gaining enough information will allow us to take action. Information about the incident that could help us includes:

  • Vehicle details (make, model, colour, and registration)
  • Offender  description (gender, age, build, hair style / colour)
  • Location, date and time of incident
  • What was the litter? (cigarette, drink can, food packaging, etc...)
  • What did you see? Describe the incident. An example could be... I saw (litter item) thrown from the (driver/passengers) window while driving down (street / location).
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