Controversial litter enforcer Kingdom has been binned by Kirklees Council.

After months of complaints from the public about the over-zealous activities of the unpopular “litter police” the company has had its contract terminated.

Kirklees Council will employ its own in-house staff from the end of October.

The news will delight critics of the private environmental protection firm who said its enforcement officers behaved rudely and aggressively.

The Cheshire-based firm was put in charge of enforcing littering, dog fouling and a range of other environmental policies in April last year.

But since its official one-year trial ended in April it has been retained by Kirklees on a four-week rolling contract.

That contract currently still exists.

But a senior councillor has revealed that it is soon to be axed.

“Kingdom will no longer be our contractor,” said Clr Graham Turner. “We are moving to an internal service for the council.”

Asked if the decision came as a result of widespread public condemnation of Kingdom staff, who have been accused to intimidating and over zealous behaviour, Clr Turner said lessons had been learned.

“We employed Kingdom to understand the model it operated. We have investigated how the market works. We are now going to look at delivering that model within house with a different slant on it.

“We are taking a slightly different approach but the details are still to be finalised.”

He said he expected the change-over to happen “within not too many weeks.”

He added: “The contract ran out earlier this year. We have had a rolling contract while we reviewed the process. They are still in a rolling contract.”

He said the axe would fall “at the end of October.”

Kirklees is the latest local authority to stop using Kingdom. In July Flintshire County Council in North Wales terminated the firm’s contract.

It followed a strong backlash from the public over officers’ approach, which was considered heavy-handed.

Flintshire will stop using the company from the end of December.

People in cities including Bristol and Liverpool have also reported wrongly-issued fines, disputes over public and private land, and over-zealous staff.

In the wake of the Flintshire decision, Kirklees’ move represents the latest stage in a domino effect.

Kingdom’s civil enforcement officers can hand out on-the-spot £75 fines for anyone caught littering.

Figures published last year revealed it was making £50,000 a MONTH in Kirklees.

But it emerged that that Kingdom took 85% ( £63.75), leaving the council with just £11.25 from each ticket.

But the private litter patrollers have been accused of using a range of tactics to encourage people to pay up, such as pretending to phone the police.

Examples of their behaviour were alleged to include operating on private property – such as in Sainsbury’s or in KFC – and targeting shoppers and customers.

A woman walking her dog in Fenay Bridge was fined £75 by Kingdom operatives for “anti-social behaviour” after letting her animal off the lead near a beck.

Two other members of the public were also issued with fixed penalties in the same location.

All three fines were later quashed.

March 2018 – Shoppers at Sainsbury’s Shorehead store are handed fixed penalty notices. Kirklees Council later says litter officers can operate on private land.

May 2018 – Single mum Suzanne Wilton denies she dropped a cigarette butt and refuses to pay fine. She says officers’ “intimidating” behaviour left her feeling humiliated.

July 2018 – Company director Roger Earle is fined for flicking a cigarette butt out of his car window in the car park of a KFC drive-thru. He said the litter squad was operating from their car.