50 litter louts a day fined
CITY CENTRE CRACKDOWN SEES HUGE RISE IN OFFENDERS GETTING CAUGHT
BEEN fined for littering in Manchester city centre recently? You’re not the only one. The M.E.N. can reveal the council has been on a blitz in 2018, doubling their ‘litter police’ team in size and handing out more than FIFTY fines a DAY.
In fact, the town hall has issued almost as many fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to people for dropping rubbish between April and July as they did in the previous THREE YEARS combined. The total for the past four months is 6,527.
More than two-thirds of them were handed out in the city centre’s ‘commercial zone’ – the shopping area from Market Street down to Deansgate as well as Victoria Station and St Peter’s Square. Other hotspots for getting an £80 ticket – which is reduced to £50 if paid within 10 days – include Piccadilly Gardens and the Northern Quarter where 731 and 319 were issued respectively.
Last summer, figures released under a Freedom of Information request showed 3GS, the private contractor brought in by the council, was handing out around six fines a day. But in January this year the council decided to ramp up its approach to enforcement and double the number of officers from four to eight.
They are now also on patrol seven days a week having previously worked Monday to Saturday.
The result has been an almost tenfold increase in the amount of fines being handed out, from an average of 183 per month to 1,631 a month.
The council is unapologetic about its approach, arguing that there are plenty of bins available to be used and that there is no excuse for dropping litter regardless.
Coun Rabnawaz Akbar said: “We believe the vast majority of decent people want to see a clean city centre that we can all be proud of and so we make no apologies for cracking down on selfish litter louts.
“Our dedicated team of enforcement officers regularly patrol the busiest areas of the city, they won’t hesitate to take action against anyone littering, and those caught can expect a fine of up to £80.
“With some 700 bins across the city centre there is no excuse for anyone to carelessly drop their litter in the heart of Manchester.”