7:00am Thursday 9th July 2009
By Tanya O'Rourke
Bradford Council is putting its resources behind an anti-litter campaign as it reveals it spends about £6 million a year on cleaning the district’s streets.
People spotted dropping litter from vehicles will be the primary target during the Keep Britain Tidy campaign which will run for a month.
The anti-litter charity has revealed more than one in five people admit to dropping litter from their vehicle.
At the moment any passenger or driver can be fined for dropping litter but it is often difficult to identify the offending person.
Keep Britain Tidy believes the vehicle owner should be fined and issued with a penalty point on their licence unless they provide details of the culprit.
Phil Barton, Keep Britain Tidy chief executive, said: “The owner should be responsible for the actions of those inside the car. We therefore want the law to go further and see a penalty point put on the licence of those that litter from vehicles.
“It is one of the most annoying things to see – a lazy driver pulls up at the lights and dumps their litter on the road.
“Our streets have become a giant dumping ground. Drivers and their passengers should take their litter home with them.”
Bradford Council will work with the charity to gather evidence on when and where car litter offences occur and campaign to raise awareness of the problem.
So far this year the Council has dealt with 103 vehicle littering offences – for which people can be fined up to £75.
Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, Bradford Council’s executive member for environment and culture, said: “We are fully on board with this Keep Britain Tidy campaign to crack down on people who throw litter out of their vehicles and this is something we are already tackling in Bradford.
“It can make our district look dirty and unpleasant, and this is something we won’t tolerate. A lot of the litter on our streets does come from vehicles. Throughout this campaign we will be monitoring the level of the problem on several streets in the district.”
People are encouraged to report littering offences to the Council on (01274) 434366, or to Keep Britain Tidy by visiting keepbritaintidy.org.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/trade_directory/