Episode 15 Dom on the Spot

'Never before have so many on-the-spot fines been issued in Britain.

'We're going to be following the men and women who hand out over

'£30 million worth of tickets every month...'

Oops.

Round here, they are an absolute blight.

-I'm up to 104 now.

-Wow.

That is disgusting.

Just walk away.

'..for behaviour that's downright dangerous...'

That was stupid for these sort of conditions, wasn't it?

'..simply selfish...'

Look at the mess you've created in the street.

How is that our fault?

'..or just...'

What is he doing?

'..well, plain silly.'

What a doughnut.

'We'll be revealing the cost of their bad behaviour...'

£100 fine.

Pays £260.

Ouch.

'..and how this could affect you.'

I'll give him a punch.

Do you want to see me kick off?

'The police are on it...'

What the...? Sir!

'..the parking wardens are on it...'

They should be thanking us for being here.

'..and I'm on it.'

Careful, it's a 30 mile an hour limit here.

'I'm Dom Littlewood,

'and I'm on the spot.'

'This time...'

We're about 107 at the moment, just to keep up with him.

'..no, it's not Formula 1, it's the M5.

'Or should that be M fine?'

I'm reporting you for the following offence,

which is speeding on a motorway, exceeding 70mph.

'And in Cardiff, they'll need a strong stomach to make

'the litterers pay the penalty.'

I love maggots, the smell of maggots.

They should bottle it.

Whatever you think of the men and women who hand out these fines,

it's a job that needs to be done.

And it's hard to think of someone who issues more on-the-spot fines

than a busy traffic cop.

Why have you got your phone between your lap?

You've got a headlight out here as well.

I'm not having it, you don't do it.

Today, I'm in Gloucestershire with PC Shelley Holloway

and PC Olly Buxton...

Dodgy drivers beware!

They're armed with the power to hit you with a fixed penalty at the

roadside and, if the offence is serious enough,

issue a court summons.

Right, we're on the M5 now.

Obviously heading southbound.

Doesn't appear to be anybody speeding.

What are you actually looking out for here?

All sorts of things.

As we're travelling at 70 in an unmarked car so,

as we're passing slower-moving traffic, checking the drivers aren't up to anything.

They shouldn't be using their phones.

And we're also on the lookout for people overtaking us, erm...

..at what we believe to be at quite a significant speed.

'If you're caught by the police for speeding,

'you could be looking at an on-the-spot fine of £100

'and three points on your licence.

'Or, if you're going fast enough, possibly even a driving ban.

'And it's not long before Shelley and Olly spot a possible candidate

'for a penalty.'

There's a red Golf that's just overtaken us in lane three...

..which is travelling significantly faster than us.

So, we'll do a following check on them now.

'And, because we're in an unmarked car, the driver hasn't spotted us.

'Speeding is a very dangerous game.

'16% of fatal accidents on the UK's roads involve people

'exceeding the speed limit.'

I'm doing 90, and I don't believe we're catching up with him yet.

-You've put your lights on, have you?

-Yeah.

'There's a fair chance that this guy will leave with more than just a warning.'

So we're doing well over 100 now.

Yeah, we're about 107 at the moment, just to keep up with him.

He's definitely got his foot down, hasn't he?

-96mph.

-96?

-Yeah.

Over a mile average, that is.

Yeah, just over a mile.

'We've finally caught up with him,

'and he's finally realised the cops have been on his tail.'

Do you know why I stopped you?

This motorist has been stopped

because his speed was clocked at well over 90 and sometimes it was over 100.

I don't know who's in there yet or what their reason's going to be.

Shelley's obviously going to have a word with them and find out why the hurry.

I've got a feeling PC Holloway's in no mood to mess around with this one.

After we conducted the speed check,

we then followed you for a while,

matching our speed for your speed, and at some points it was up to 100.

Which isn't acceptable.

The only times you slowed down was when there were cars in front of you

in lane three, but the thing is...

I shouldn't have been speeding...

'The driver says he was in a bit of a rush.

'That's putting it mildly.'

Could I have your driving licence, please?

You're only 4mph away from it probably being a ban, you know.

100 and above is an automatic,

normally, an automatic ban for speeding,

which is a temporary ban of about 56 days - two months.

'So, what might this driver's fate be?

'He was caught red-handed bombing down the motorway at almost 100mph.

'As he was travelling faster than 86mph, it looks like he won't

'be eligible for a possible speed awareness course.

'Could it be three points and a £100 fine?

'Or worse?'

Would you class yourself as a safe driver, but you just obviously got caught?

Well, obviously, touch wood,

because I've not had any accidents for 15, 16 years.

I do a lot of business miles, so I am...I would say I'm pretty careful, to be honest with you.

He might think he's careful, but not careful enough.

Shelley is about to issue her verdict.

I'm reporting you for the following offence,

-which is speeding on a motorway, exceeding 70mph.

-Yeah.

And your speed is recorded as 96mph.

Without touching anything else on the device,

-if you could sign your name in the yellow box for me.

-Yeah.

'That's three points and a £100 fine.'

I do about 25-30,000 business miles a year,

so I don't sort of usually speed because otherwise I'd have a lot

more points than I've got, so...

You were very close to getting a ban today, weren't you?

-So I think luck's on your side to a certain degree, isn't it?

-Yeah.

'The driver can continue on his way without losing his licence.

'But at a sensible speed.

'I hope.'

Shelley, I noticed, again, that motorist who just received

the fixed penalty was very complimentary about how you treated him.

He put his hands up and said, "Yes, I was in the wrong, I did it."

And I started to wonder whether, in your job, do you ever feel

like a one-legged duck going round and round in circles doing the same

thing day in, day out? Does it get monotonous?

No, not really, because every now and again,

there'll be a stark reminder as to why you're actually doing your job.

So, you know, a few weeks ago,

there was a fatal collision on the motorway where speed appears to be the cause.

So, it always justifies, in my mind, why I'm giving people tickets for speeding.

Because the danger is there. It does happen on a regular basis.

Speeding does contribute to a lot of fatal road traffic collisions,

so it never gets boring because you've always got, you know,

that reason why you're doing it, and you're always reminded of that.

In Cardiff, waste enforcement officer Stephanie Marnell Jones

is on garbage patrol.

20 bags, wasn't it?

Outside about four houses.

Oh, and it was disgusting as well.

It's a dirty job and it could be about to get worse.

She's heading to the student district of Cathays.

School's out for summer,

the students are moving out but some of them haven't taken all of their

belongings with them.

The streets are lined with rubbish

and the local residents have called in Steph to sort it out.

Off the reports that we've had,

we'll go to the properties that have been reported and see what's there,

if the problem is still there.

And then deal with it then as we come across it.

Anyone breaking the rubbish rules faces a fine of £80.

Before Steph even makes it to the student quarter,

she's sniffed out another dumping hot spot - the local park.

Dog poo - it's the worst thing in the world.

It's disgusting.

Walked along that road there, I saw three lots of dog poo on the road.

You know, just no care

and, as you can see, there's a lot of mums in the other park walking

with their prams and their toddlers and things like that as well, so...

That lady's dog has just had a poo.

She's on the phone, but she is stood by it.

So...

..I'm just going to give her five minutes now

and then she may be waiting to pick it up.

If she walks away from it, that's when I'll approach her.

In Cardiff, you can get an £80 on-the-spot fine for allowing

your dog to poo and then not clearing it up.

But, to issue the fine, Steph needs to see the evidence with her own eyes.

It's a stakeout.

Quite a big dog as well.

Quite a big poo.

The woman eventually got off the phone and scooped the poop,

so no fine there.

Now it's back to studentville,

where it seems they aren't quite so conscientious.

I've had a call from a resident in Cathays that

somebody's put their waste out two days early before collection,

and it's split and gone everywhere.

And it makes me think that they may have gone home.

Right, so this is the one that we've had a complaint about.

Steph's arrived at the property to be confronted by a stinking pile

of unsorted rubbish and food waste.

No wonder the neighbours were revolted.

According to the report, they've put the waste out last night

so, as you can see, all the food waste that's been pulled out,

probably by vermin and seagulls,

if it had gone in their food waste bin, it would have been all right.

Mind you, there is a lot of food there and it wouldn't have all

fitted in their food waste bin.

It looks to me like a clear-out.

They've gone home, but we'll give them a knock and see what we can do.

If Steph can find evidence,

there could be an £80 on-the-spot fine for somebody.

Looks empty.

But is anybody home?

The property looks empty to me.

We'll just remove the split bags now, we'll pick up the waste that's been split.

But there's obviously nobody in there.

I think they've gone home, the house looks empty, to be honest, so...

It is collection day tomorrow,

it's only ten o'clock now.

If I leave this here, this will just be a lot worse by tomorrow.

The bags'll be split, there'll be nothing for the binmen to pick up

because the bags will just be everywhere.

As you can see, it's created all this as well.

Righto, Steph. Time to hold your nose and hunt for clues.

I'm going to search through, find the evidence.

The key to being able to issue an on-the-spot fine is finding evidence

that links the pile to the property and that means, yes,

rooting through this rotten lot.

If you start searching through.

Give me a shout if you find anything.

And there it is -

exhibit number one.

We found evidence to that property.

So even though, like,

they've got about ten to 12 bags of recycling out,

they're doing really well.

All this in the general waste bags is still recyclable.

So, I mean, you've got the food waste,

which could have gone in the food waste bin,

and these could have been recycled.

Obviously not the bags or the frying pan.

They haven't just got food in there,

there are maggots.

But Steph has just found exhibit number two.

Yeah, same name, same address.

I haven't found any other names.

That one house now has created this much waste,

and most of it could've been recycled.

OK, it's time for Steph to look at the facts.

Some bags - properly sorted.

But food waste in the wrong bags,

put out two days early,

and then ripped open by the seagulls.

Oh, and let's not forget the maggots.

What's it going to be, Steph?

Probably issue a fixed penalty for this.

So, there it is - it's an £80 on-the-spot fine.

I love maggots,

the smell of maggots,

in the summer.

They should bottle it.

Now, did you know that there are over 500,000 untaxed vehicles

on the UK's roads at any one time?

That's potentially £80 million in lost revenue,

which would go towards fixing our roads.

Now, that's something to think about when you're bouncing over those

potholes, isn't it?

Crushing the cars for not paying their car tax is a good idea,

without a doubt, cos then you've got them off the road, haven't you?

Otherwise, if you give them their car back,

they'll be doing the same thing the following week, wouldn't they?

Because we pay ours, and we're not well off, we're pensioners,

so why shouldn't the other people pay theirs?

You know, it's so unfair, the system, that they should

get away with it. That's why I say it should be crushed.

They should give so many days to pay it.

-And if it's not paid in those days...

-Then squash it, like.

Then that's when it gets squashed.

The tax is to pay for the potholes in the road,

which is all part of that, and it's expenditure which the taxpayers

like me have got to pay for.

In Leicestershire, the streets are lined with shiny expensive motors.

For most of us, they're our prized possessions,

but not all of them.

This is Joanne Hewitt.

She's an environmental health technical officer at the local council.

Dumped motors are her game.

On her patch, up to three to four cars a week can be left abandoned without tax.

It's her job to find the culprit

and, if the tax is still unpaid,

seize the car and crush it.

This car was reported to us abandoned about five weeks ago.

Today, she's got another long-forgotten vehicle to deal with.

Nobody's paid any attention to this vehicle in these five weeks.

There's flat tyres, dents, et cetera. It's been out of tax since February.

So, any vehicle that's been out of tax for a certain length of time and

has been parked up with no interest,

no movement, is classed as an abandoned vehicle.

We're now in the process of removing the vehicle.

We've written to the owner seven days ago,

asking him to remove the vehicle within seven days,

otherwise we will do.

We've had no reply back from the owner of the vehicle.

So now it's D-Day.

So, yesterday, I put a 24-hour notice on it,

giving him 24 hours to remove it.

I've been out there this morning to see if it's still there, and it is.

The notice has since been ripped off the vehicle,

so we're just going to see whether or not the vehicle's still there at 10.30.

Operation Car Clearance is about to begin.

Abandoned vehicles are surprisingly common in these parts.

We can go out and see the vehicles, leave them on site for three weeks,

go back and then the vehicles have gone.

We, by law, have to leave them for three weeks on site

before we can touch them,

and then, usually, by the time we've got there,

they've either been re-taxed

or they've gone.

It's a game of chance, really.

Owners of untaxed cars are slapped with an £80 fine from the DVLA.

But the owner of today's untaxed car has failed to pay

and the car's still on the road.

We've written to the registered keeper of it,

their 24 hours is up now.

So we are, by right, now allowed to remove the vehicle.

Looks like it could be all over for this little hatch

because here comes the car clearance cavalry.

All your preps are done?

All my preps are done, yeah.

Basically, we just need for you now to pick it up,

put it on the back of the truck and then secure it and away we go.

But will it get a last-minute rescue from an angry owner?

Yeah, sometimes, this now can be the point where,

if we've got an owner of the vehicle, they may come out wondering

why we're harnessing up their vehicle to take it away.

Hopefully, they won't but, on the odd occasion, if they're around,

they might come out. It depends whether they've listened to any of

our advice and read the letters, et cetera.

No last-minute reprieve.

So the removal team can swing into action and swing the car onto the truck,

much to the relief of the neighbours.

Same as it always is. It's disgusting, it's disgraceful.

We all have to pay our taxes,

council taxes, car taxes, whatever it may be

but, at the end of the day, if you don't pay, let them take it away.

It's just wrong. If it ain't paid for, get it off the street.

Everything's fine at the moment.

We seem to have... I think they're going to swing it round,

place it on the back of the truck.

So there it is. The registered keeper of this car could be hit

with an £80 fine from the DVLA.

All right, thanks, Jim. Cheers.

In seven days' time, we'll then give permission for the vehicle

to go and get disposed of, crushed.

So the countdown begins.

But this owner never claimed their motor.

So, yes, it ended up in the crusher.

I'm on the highways of Wiltshire with traffic cop Jay Clifton.

We're in Jay's unmarked car with a piece of kit that can read

car number plates and flag any big DVLA no-nos.

Driving without insurance or with an out-of-date MOT?

This machine will spot it.

Hoping that this will start picking some stuff up for me,

bad light, isn't great for it.

So, as the cars are coming up behind us, it's giving this lovely

beam of infrared and is picking up everything.

But you never know.

'If the machine gets a hit,

'Jay is empowered to issue an on-the-spot fine.

'As the sun starts to set,

'the camera locks onto a problem motor.'

There you go - MOT expired.

On which one?

On the BMW. Ran out in March.

Wow. So quite a while ago.

-That's definitely March.

-More than three months.

'Driving without an MOT could mean an instant £100 fine.'

I suppose there is always that element now that,

-as you pull them over, anything could actually happen.

-Yeah.

-So it's not necessarily just an MOT, is it?

-No.

-But we'll see.

-OK.

Hello.

I need to have a quick chat with you about your MOT.

Do you have your driver's licence with you? Excellent.

Come back to the car. We'll have a quick chat.

The car's been stopped, no MOT. They look a little bit shocked.

Take a seat. It's a bit safer over here.

This says that the MOT expired on 17th March, 2016.

It ran out in March.

Have you had it done in the past week?

No.

'It's a surprisingly common offence.

'According to a survey by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders,

'one third of drivers admit to driving without an MOT.'

'The car has come up as having had no MOT for three months.

'So will this be a few words of warning or a financial penalty?'

I'm going to have to point out it is an offence to drive

a motor vehicle whilst having no valid MOT.

The only lawful journey your car can make is to a pre-booked MOT.

You must book it in.

Just go very careful on your way back.

'No points on his licence, but this driver's overdue MOT

'has just cost him a £100 on-the-spot fine.'

-Hiya.

-Hi.

What actually happened in the end?

No MOT...

I have to do it. It's expired. My fault.

-Did you realise it had expired?

-No, no.

You forgot?

Of course, I forgot.

Do you feel a grudge about the fact you've just been given

a penalty for that?

No, it's the law.

-Yes.

-It's the law.

We have to pass on the law.

You do.

This is the life, isn't it?

-It's quite a lot of money, isn't it, for a simple mistake?

-Yeah, but...

..it's a fine.

'It certainly is a fine. £100.

'And I bet there's lots of people at home right now checking

'their MOTs are up-to-date.'

In this case, he's been given a fixed penalty notice for £100.

There are no points on his licence, so he pays the fine within 28 days

and that's the end of it.

The only other thing he has to do now is get that MOT sorted out.

I've asked him to produce his insurance, just so I can check it,

but, other than that, we're all good.

In Pendle, Lancashire, there's a stakeout.

Matty Hargreaves and Jeff Brown are environmental crime officers

for the local council.

With the power to issue fines for things like littering

and dog fouling.

But first, they've got to spot the crime.

Matty and Jeff are in Colne town centre

and their patch includes its busy covered market.

So if you litter here and they catch you, you could get a £75 fine.

We're just in the middle of Colne town centre on patrol,

looking for people not putting their litter in the bin and

throwing it on the ground, littering.

I think she's chucked it down the grate.

Today, they're on the lookout for littering smokers.

That's an offence of polluting the water course.

-Just watching the girl in the leather jacket.

-They've spotted a smoker.

If her cigarette butt doesn't end up in a bin,

she could end up with a £75 fine.

But not this time.

That's a good result.

All that way to put it in the bin.

Fag-butt stakeouts can be drawn-out affairs.

That's the longest cigarette I've ever known.

We're just observing a male on the balcony, smoking a cigarette.

Just see what people do with the litter that they've got.

If they don't dispose of it properly, that's when we'll speak to them.

And he has put it in the bin.

So it's a positive result and not a negative result.

Another set of smokers.

Oh, and she's ditched the butt.

Caught in the act.

It could be a £75 fine.

They're keen to confront her right now.

I just want to have a word outside.

Thank you.

Hiya. My name's Matthew Hargreaves.

I'm an environmental crime officer for Pendle Borough Council.

I just watched you smoking up here.

I never give it a thought.

When you finish smoking, you've thrown the fag and it's flown

down there, which is an offence of littering.

I just dropped it by mistake. Never give it a thought.

Matty's seen her throw the butt

and then she's confessed.

They've proof of an offence but will that mean a fine?

What happens now is I'll let my supervisor know what's happened

and then you'll either receive a fixed penalty notice, which is a £75 fine,

or you'll receive a caution.

You'll receive a letter through the post regarding that.

This woman will be getting hit for not using a litter bin.

A fixed penalty notice of £75.

She held her hands up and said, "Yeah, fair enough, you caught me."

The council's taken a zero-tolerance approach to it.

I think that it is justified, her getting the £75 fine.

Yeah, I would think so.

I don't usually do it. I put it in the ashtray.

It is expensive, knowing that you're doing it by accident.

Yeah, I would feel cross about it, especially when you're a single mum

on the benefits and you've got to try and fork out all this money now.

I definitely won't do it again.

It will affect us hard, knowing I've got to pull £75 out to pay for it.

I don't think it's harsh, no, cos there's plenty of bins around.

There's a bin just there, from where they were stood down,

and there's a bin just at the entrance, I think, to the market,

so there's no real excuse for it.

'I've come to the end of my apprenticeship with

'the on-the-spot finers.'

How do you feel about the fact you're picking up someone's poo?

Quite shocking, really.

95mph now.

It's not going to be his lucky day, is it?

'I've seen it all.'

So you've left your wife and child on the hard shoulder of the motorway?

What must be going through his mind right now?

Oops.

'Whether it's dodgy driving...'

Blow. Keep going, keep going.

OK, the legal limit's 35 and you've just blown 54, which is a failure.

-'..or dumping...'

-Why are your bins full?

Because we have a lot of people in the house who create a lot of waste.

Yeah, and you've got enough bins for 14 people.

'..there's a fine to be had.'

£80 for something which I didn't even know nothing about?

If you can't get it done in 30 minutes, I'm seizing the vehicle.

'And there's no telling how the culprits will react.'

-Wipe that

-BLEEP

-smile off your face.

I'm going to smile as long as I want to.

I'm not going to need your permission or anyone else's.

If you don't co-operate, I will call the police.

Let me do my job here and then you can start swinging punches.

You're not doing your job.

-Go away.

-No, I think you need to go away.

I'm going away cos you're rude.

'I've been all over the country with the people that hand them out.'

You do realise it is a driver's license and not a Tesco Clubcard.

It is not designed to collect as many points as humanly possible.

'Let me tell you, they've got their work cut out.'

-Do you know what? Everyone who's been through this

-BLEEP

-bin,

get out the house now!

Right, sir, this is something you need to argue with the council.

Very happy chappie.

'One thing's for sure,

'it's never a dull day when you're out and about with the finers.'

Do you think Mulder and Scully ever did something like this?

'Until the next time.'

I love maggots, the smell of maggots.

You should bottle it.