Burnham-On-Sea motorists have this week been warned that they face fines if they throw litter from their car windows.
Sedgemoor District Council says that new legislation allows local authorities to issue fixed penalty notices with fines of up to £150 to the owners of vehicles if they are caught littering under civil proceedings at the County Court.
With the rise of dash-cam footage, any persons seen throwing litter out of a car can be recorded. So long as the number plate is clear as well as the litter being thrown, Court officials will accept this as evidence.
“Litter in hedges and verges is a danger to wildlife, unattractive which ruins views, walks and is classed as environmental crime,” council spokeswoman Claire Faun told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
One of the first local cases has seen a motorist fined in Bridgwater. Sedgemoor District Council received evidence that a passenger in a vehicle being driven along the Broadway in Bridgwater had dropped litter from the vehicle. Information obtained from the DVLA identified the driver, who was issued with a fixed penalty ticket requiring a payment of £150, reduced to £50 if paid within 10 days.
“The driver failed to make that payment and Sedgemoor District Council issued a summons for recovery in the county court. The car owner subsequently admitted the claim and is now paying the fine,” added the spokeswoman.
“Until now, people have been able to get away with chucking rubbish out of cars because it’s often been impossible to prove who was at fault.”
“In a change to the law, if it can be proved that litter was thrown from a car, the car’s owner will be deemed responsible, even if someone else discarded the rubbish.”
The new legislation is ‘Littering from vehicles outside London (Keepers: Civil Penalties) Regulations 2018’.
According to the government, one in seven drivers admits chucking rubbish out of their car. The result is roadsides covered with everything from coffee cups to cigarette ends, dirty nappies to old newspapers. Each year, 200,000 sacks of litter are removed from the roadside. In 2017 this cost taxpayers £700 million.
