A £280 fine has been handed to a litterer after a member of the public reported him for throwing bottles out of a van.

Bradford Council has recently taken a tougher stance on litter louts, increasing the amount of fines they can issue and making it easier to report people dropping litter from vehicles - a campaign called “Don’t Be A Tosser.”

Two Bradford residents have recently been fined by courts for littering.

Wayne Marshall, 39, of Stoneyhurst Way, Holme Wood, was given an £80 fine by Bradford Magistrates.

On May 14 he was seen to throw a plastic bottle then a glass bottle, which smashed, from the passenger window of a van in which he was travelling in Baildon. The incident happened on Hollins Hill, and a witness who saw him reported the offence by filling in the Bradford Council online reporting form.

Marshall, who pleaded guilty to littering, was also told to pay costs of £200 with £30 Victim Surcharge.

In another case, a man who tore a parking ticket off the windscreen of his car and threw it on the floor was fined for littering.

Court orders driver to pay £576 after dropping parking ticket on floor in Shipley

Bogdan Ilie, 33, of City Road, Bradford, threw the penalty charge notice on the floor in Dale Street, Bradford, earlier this year in full view of the warden who had just issued it, Bradford magistrates were told. The warden asked him to pick it up again, but Ilie refused. Ilie did not attend court, but magistrates found the case proved in his absence. He was fined £120 with costs of £427 and £30 Victim Surcharge. Bradford Council later confirmed that a penalty charge for illegal parking had also been recovered from Mr Ilie.

The Don’t Be A Tosser campaign is a partnership between Bradford Council and Keep Britain Tidy.

The Executive had agreed to adopt tougher new rules which will make it easier to prosecute people who drop litter from vehicles. The legislation means any litter dropped from a vehicle will be treated as the responsibility of the keeper of that vehicle, identified through the licence plate number. If the keeper cannot identify the actual person who dropped the litter, they then become liable for the offence and can be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice or prosecuted if they fail to pay up.

Under the previous rules the Council could only fine the person who actually dropped the litter - meaning it could be difficult to find the culprit if the car owner refused to co-operate with officers. This led to many cases having to be dropped due to lack of evidence.

A spokesperson for the Council said: “We would urge everyone to help us catch people who throw rubbish from vehicles by using our reporting form at bradford.gov.uk.

“You don’t have to have video evidence, just fill in as many details as possible about the incident, the person responsible and the vehicle they were travelling in and we will take it from there. We can’t be everywhere at once so we need the public to be our eyes and ears when it comes to catching the culprits. By working together we can make our district better.”