HAVE you ever dropped a cigarette end into a drain, fed the birds in a city square or thrown an apple core into a bush?

Then you had better watch out from next month, when a new team of private-sector ‘litter police’ hit the streets.

The team of eight private enforcers will be patrolling Bradford city centre, slapping £80 fines on anyone caught dropping litter, failing to clear up after their dogs, or spitting or urinating in the street.

The private firm 3GS is being brought in by Bradford Council in a bid to get tough on litter-louts.

Council wardens have long had the power to fine people for dropping litter or dog-fouling, but Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s environment boss, says both issues “continue to be a significant problem throughout the district and we have to do the best we can to tackle them”.

She says the new contract sends “a clear message that the Council is getting tougher on these offences”.

And the boss of the company has warned that if you are caught, there will be no chance of getting off with a warning.

Managing director Paul Buttivant, a former London borough councillor, says: “The environmental crimes we enforce are criminal offences, so they could be enforced by the police.

“We can’t just turn a blind eye. It would be like turning a blind eye to a burglary and saying go on, get away with it.”

And Mr Buttivant takes a hard line on what constitutes littering. He says when his officers start work, on July 17, they will be fining anyone dropping “chewing gum, cigarette butts, anything like that”.

Bird-feeding will also incur a fine, Mr Buttivant says, as it attracts vermin. “We don’t want rats running around the streets,” he says.

He adds: “People think that putting a cigarette butt down the drain is acceptable. It’s actually a criminal offence. If people do not pick up when their dogs have fouled, that’s an offence as well.”

Mr Buttivant’s firm, which already operates in 12 local authorities across the country, doesn’t charge councils for the service it provides.

Instead, it keeps a proportion of the ticket fine - the exact amount is kept confidential - to cover costs and make a profit, with the surplus going back to the council to fund further environmental work.

Mr Buttivant says littering costs local authorities “millions and millions of pounds” to clear up and says his business aims to educate offenders about the impact of littering, while “still applying a robust enforcement process”.

Some so-called litter police companies have hit the headlines, amid claims a target-driven culture leads to people being fined unfairly.

3GS markets itself to local authorities as the ‘ethical’ alternative - Mr Buttivant says his officers aren’t incentivised to hand out as many tickets as possible and he has lobbied the Government to make this practice illegal.

But he’s still expecting the number of littering fines handed out in Bradford to increase dramatically.

Leeds, a city which already uses the firm, saw a ten-fold increase in the number of fines dished out in the first six months alone.

Mr Buttivant said such increases were because they provided a far more focused service than council wardens, who usually had a host of other responsibilities. And he says the deterrent his officers provide do start to modify people’s behaviour.

Bradford Council has said no council wardens will be losing their jobs when the new private-sector team begins, and they will instead focus on other tasks.

But the Bradford District Chamber of Trade has voiced concerns that over-zealous litter police could put people off from visiting the city centre.

Vall Summerscales, its secretary, warned against a “bombastic” approach and urged them to target their efforts on the most serious offenders.

Mr Buttivant says his staff will be trained to discern an honest mistake from a deliberate crime.

He says: “If somebody drops something out of their jacket pocket, or their child drops something, officers would say, ‘Sorry, but you just dropped that.

“If that person has thrown it, it’s a different matter.”

Certainly, striking the right balance between acting as a deterrent and making sure they don’t alarm people will be crucial. The firm has been accused of following people into shops in Bournemouth, while in Blackpool its £80 fines were branded excessive by critics.

Time will tell how the new team will be received here in Bradford.