Litter fines rake in £1,100-a-day for Wolverhampton council
Litter fines in Wolverhampton have soared – with more than 17,000 dished out in just two years.
The ‘zero-tolerance’ crackdown has made more than £825,000 – the equivalent of £1,130 a day.
A total of 9,163 fixed-penalty notices were issued across 2016, or 25-a-day, while last year followed a similar pattern with 8,277 fines issued up until mid-November.
The latest figures compare with just 2,934 fines for littering offences handed out during 2015.
Express & Star comment: Litter law must apply to everyone
For some time the on-the-spot fines have been £75, with no discount for paying the fee early.
The litter-dropping covers everything from cigarettes to food and paper to dog mess.
The figures, revealed in a Freedom of Information request to Wolverhampton council, show how £372,150 was collected in the first 10 and a half months of 2017, with the figure expected to exceed the previous year’s penalty total.
In 2016 the number of those hit with litter fines was triple those in 2015 when 2,922 penalty notices were dished out, making almost £155,000.
When the final 2017 figure is published, it is anticipated that the city council will have collected in more than £1million over the three years.
In 2014, just 34 litter fines were issued.
The huge hike in fines income coincides with the hiring of a squad of enforcers from Kingdom Security.
The company already works with more than 30 local authorities across the country, including Dudley and Birmingham councils.
It receives £45 of the £75 fine while the council retains the remaining £30.
Councillor Steve Evans, cabinet member for city environment, said: “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards litter in Wolverhampton and we make it a top priority to tackle this issue.
"The money accrued from fixed penalty notices funds the facilities to enforce litter and waste management to improve the cleanliness of our city.”
