Drivers who throw litter from their cars will soon be slapped with £60 fines – even if their passenger was responsible
Councils in England will be given new powers to punish grubby motorists by dishing out automatic penalties
DRIVERS who throw litter from their cars will soon be slapped with £60 fines – even if their passenger was responsible, it was claimed last night.
Councils in England will be given new powers to punish grubby motorists by dishing out automatic penalties.
Failure to cough up within a month could see the fines tripled, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
Local authorities will only have to prove litter was thrown from a vehicle on the “balance of probabilities” – and not beyond reasonable doubt.
Drivers will have to convince their littering passenger to confess or pay the fine themselves.
The shake-up, set to be announced in a matter of weeks as part of the government’s new litter strategy, comes as ministers grow tired with slack litter laws.
Leaked government documents seen by the Telegraph say Britain must “act now to clean up the country and change our culture so that it is no longer acceptable to drop litter.”
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Other proposals include increasing the standard £75 fine for littering on the street to £125.
Chewing gum firms could also be forced to tell councils how they are tackling stains on the streets.
And “national clean-up” days such as the Great British Spring Clean and the Great British Beach Clean could be enforced.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has taken lead on the proposals while Whitehall mandarins have been consulted.
The move is part of a Tory manifesto pledge to “be the first generation to leave the natural environment of England in a better state than that in which we found it”.