8:00am Tuesday 29th July 2008
LITTERBUGS in Colchester who try to avoid paying a fine by giving false details are to be photographed and publicly shamed for the first time.
Colchester Council has announced it is to start releasing pictures of people it believes have side-stepped fixed penalty notices by giving out false addresses and names.
Cllr Tim Young, street services portfolio holder, said getting tough on fine-dodgers would send out the right signals to other offenders.
He added: “I think we need to send a tough message, which is what this does. If people litter the streets of Colchester, they have to pay their fixed penalty notice and give their correct details, and if they don’t, we will make sure justice is done.”
Essex University lecturer Gavin Sandercock, who regularly collects litter found on his route to work from his Maldon Road home, said he was in favour of the scheme.
“I think it is a fantastic idea. Most litterers are obviously not caught, but it would also be good to show the faces of real people who have been – to show it does happen – and to give details of their fine,” he said.
In the first case of its kind in the borough, a dropped cigarette could see a woman hauled before magistrates and fined thousands of pounds for littering.
Street care officers say they issued a £75 penalty notice to her on June 24, at 2.35pm, after she was spotted discarding the butt in the Lion Walk precinct.
They took her picture and asked for her details. The officers allege she gave them a name and an address in West Mersea, which turned out to be false.
Team leader Shane Taylor said checks showed she did not live at the address given, and that the fine has not been paid.
As a result, the council intends to prosecute her, with a charge of obstructing an officer now added to the original littering offence, for which she faces a fine of up to £2,500.
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