Episode 1 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're an absolute blight.

I'm at 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's 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. 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 30mph limit here!

I'm Dom Littlewood,

and I'm On The Spot.

Today, it's detective time as we track down one of the men behind

this monstrous mound. I hit them with my ace in the pack.

There are photographs of your truck outside your house.

You can run, but you can't hide from the litter patrol.

If you don't cooperate, I will call the police.

And I go out on the beat...

It's a serious injury, so you might not want to look.

..to find out why fines are so crucial to road safety.

His bike's there, and about ten metres away is his boot,

which makes me feel a bit queasy.

Every year, the police hand out over one million speeding and

road traffic fines. And with good reason.

And what do you think about speeding tickets, would you be offended by it,

would you be annoyed? Yeah, because you shouldn't be speeding.

If I hadn't seen the camera, I'd be annoyed.

I drive, and we all do it at times, we are all guilty.

But excessive speeding, especially around schools, in towns,

it's not good, people get hurt.

If you're doing 32 in a 30...

..maybe a quick reminder would be better than a slap in the face.

OK, a bit of discretion, that's what they need?

Yeah, discretion, yeah.

One of the people on the lookout for dodgy drivers going over the limit

is Wiltshire Police's Rich Hatch.

And he's heard his fair share of excuses.

Tell me some of the real crackers you've heard?

And I bet you've had some real champions, have you?

I've had some good ones, yeah.

Erm, I've had speeders at 115mph on the motorway,

and the excuse was that the passenger needed a number two.

They had been past three service stations.

You're just like... Obviously quite fussy about which number two station they wanted to go to.

So you, you take everything with a pinch of salt, really.

I've had, "My butler does my insurance.

"I don't do it, it's not up to me to sort out my insurance,

"it's my butler's job." I've had that one.

That sounds a bit arrogant to me, that does. I hope you gave him a ticket.

Yeah, I did. Yeah, good.

And seized it. Good for you.

Right. Erm, God.

You get... Everyone's late.

Everyone's always late. There's no-one ever on time.

That's a given, isn't it? On time for anything, they're always late.

Is there one you think that you'd like to hear for the first time,

just a bit of originality, just for a change?

Oh, I pressed a button there. Oh, God, you've put the lights on!

'Oh, no, I think I've touched something I shouldn't.'

Oh, he's pulled over, as well.

That's all right, I'll speak to him, it's no problem.

Oh, no! It's all right, don't worry.

I've only gone and put all

the blue, flashing lights on - the bloke pulled over.

Never mind. I hope I don't get a penalty for that.

Button got pressed by my passenger.

You don't need to stop!

I do apologise.

Uh-oh, I hope our first on-the-spot fine isn't going to be for me for

inappropriate use of police equipment.

He's probably terrified now.

God, Lord. And what's he going to say to him?

Some bumbling BBC presenter on there,

he's pressed the blues' lights by accident.

What did he call me? Nothing!

She was fine. Oh, OK.

Tell you what, she pulled over quick.

Yeah, she was quick.

Fair play. Don't worry, madam, no on-the-spot fine for you.

And I'll keep my hands to myself from now on.

We are heading to a speeding black spot in a 30mph zone.

Speed gun at the ready,

anyone Rich catches going over the limit is risking a ?100 fine.

Didn't even indicate when he was turning left.

What a doughnut. There you go, 47.

Ooh.

We've been here three minutes, maybe two.

47 in a 30.

'That's more than 50% over the speed limit.

'Could this be his first fine of the day?'

Before we go any further at this point, obviously,

I'm going to deal with you for the offence of excess speed.

Rich informs the driver that his speed gun has captured the car driving at

47mph in a 30mph zone.

I'm wondering what the rush was?

How long have you had the car? About two weeks.

OK, so you're still finding it quite a pleasure to drive?

Yeah, you don't realise how quick you're going.

The bad news for you - we've literally been standing there maybe

two or three minutes maximum.

We've just got out the car and he said to me, "Watch this road,

"it can be really, really bad."

'The driver says they're off on a break.

'Not the best start, then.'

Is this the first day of your holiday?

Yeah, we're just on the way to Heathrow.

Oh, OK. The guy's going on holiday, driving to the airport now.

He needs his driving licence for when he gets an America.

Rather than having to confiscate his licence, which he's entitled to do,

he said, "Keep it, and when you come back off your holiday in a couple weeks' time,

"you need to bring it in, and then the licence will be altered."

So he's used his discretion here.

Had he taken it off him, I'd imagine, when he gets to America,

picking the hire car up, they'd say, "Uh-uh."

Can you imagine how much your problem's going to be multiplied then in

America with no hire car?

Ooh.

So let's take a look at Rich's options.

The driver was doing 47 in a 30mph zone.

That's close to the level of a court summons.

Or, will it be a fixed penalty notice?

Or perhaps just a caution?

Over to you, Rich.

I'm going to do deal with you for the offence of excess speed.

That will be dealt with by a fixed penalty notice at the roadside,

here and now. No surprise there.

That's the first ?100 on-the-spot fine of the day.

I'll let you get back on your way to Terminal Five, or wherever it was.

And I would say enjoy your holiday,

but I might have put a bit of a damper on it for the day, that's all.

All right, take care.

Bye-bye.

I've got a funny feeling there may be a few more fines to come.

Careful, it's a 30mph limit here!

But there's a serious reason why we're here.

42.

A recent fatality on the road has had a major impact on the community,

as local resident, Amy Louise, has stopped to tell me.

The cars that come up and down this road are

going at approximately 40-50mph around the bend.

Yes. And I've move from one estate of Marlborough to this estate,

I now don't allow my children to play out.

It's completely changed our lives.

Do you think speeding here is out of control? Absolutely.

Back to the road, and within seconds,

the speed gun picks off more offenders.

Nearly everybody's actually speeding.

I can see on the back of your gun, some not as bad as others.

That's from a standing start.

That's 43.

Could this be on-the-spot fine number two.

I tell you what, that's probably three minutes again.

You haven't got time to boil an egg doing this job, have you? No, not at all.

Evening, sir. Evening. Before I go any further,

I will tell you have committed the offence of excess speeding on London Road in Marlborough.

30mph speed limit up there.

From a standing start at the bottom of the hill, you managed to get to 43.

And I checked you again, gave you the benefit of the doubt, 168 metres away, you're doing 42 still.

So, you're just accelerating up the hill, it's not acceptable,

it's too fast for the road, all right?

Do you have your driving licence with you?

That's 13mph over the speed limit.

But the driver says he has an excuse.

He said there was an accident further down the road,

and he was stuck behind the hold-up in the traffic for quite a while,

so it was a release of the tension coming up the hill.

He realises he was speeding.

That was his excuse. But...as Rich said earlier,

he's heard every excuse in the world, and...

none of them really justify it. I can sort of see what he's saying,

especially if someone was killed here not that long ago,

due to speeding.

But has the excuse worked?

He's been caught doing 43mph -

that's still 13mph over the limit on this road.

I will be dealing with you today by way of a fixed penalty notice.

That is a speeding ticket. So it will be a further three points.

But it is dealt with by the way of a fixed penalty.

No excuses.

That's three points on his licence, and another ?100 fine.

Now, if I said fly-tipping, what image would that conjure up for you?

Perhaps a bin bag dumped on a street corner?

Maybe a few more in the undergrowth?

Perhaps it's the contents of a house clearance in a back alley?

Or the contents of a skip on an industrial estate?

So what about a massive, 100m-long pile of soil?

It beggars belief, doesn't it?

In fact, it's fly-tipping on a virtually industrial scale.

And that's exactly what has happened here in Buckinghamshire.

Fly-tipping is just a case of people trying to make as much money as they

possibly can for as little expense as they can,

and ripping people off basically, and letting other people down.

But never fear, environmental waste officer Chris Smith is on the case.

This is the A355, it's a road that travels - in this particular case -

between Beaconsfield and goes north up to Amersham.

And we're going to visit a lay-by

that has been completely overrun by fly-tipping.

To such an extent that it looks like the lay-by's

going to have to be closed down.

There's so much waste in there now that it would just cost so much to

remove it they're thinking of leaving it there.

A trip out to site reveals just how bad this crime is.

This is one of the worst cases of fly-tipping

Chris' department has ever dealt with.

But the punishment is equally massive -

serious cases of fly-tipping can incur up to a ?50,000 fine,

and a possible jail sentence of up to 12 months.

OK, so this is the lay-by on the A355 between Beaconsfield and Amersham.

If you look down the length of the lay-by from here,

you can kind of see the difference in the waste.

About halfway down, it changes from being very large piles of this

excavation waste,

to smaller piles of similar waste, but different size.

MUSIC: New World Symphony by Antonin Dvorak

Chris has got technology on his side.

In his efforts to make someone pay for this crime,

he's taking a leaf out of the nature-cameraman book,

and hidden some cameras in the undergrowth.

But he's not on the lookout for badgers or foxes - oh, no.

Chris's secret visitors are more likely to do harm to the local wildlife.

Back at his office,

a review of the footage caught on Chris's surveillance cameras reveals

the shocking truth.

Over 24 hours, the camera has picked up five separate offenders.

One of whom has made multiple dumps.

Can anyone feel a fine coming on?

You can see how far he's gone back to unload that lot.

So if you note the time...

So they disappear at 12:32, the same vehicle comes back here at 13:17.

It comes back, and as you can see,

it can't get back so far now, cos of waste he's dumped previously.

So he's disappeared again at 13:20 on that day.

And if we flick through the footage...

..14:41, they reappear.

And the lay-by's getting fuller and fuller as they go along.

They're nearly running the camera over

as they come in that time.

We have identified the owner of the vehicle.

We've had a visit,

and I'm just doing a bit of background work before I write to him

and invite him in to give us an explanation about what he was up to.

We identified a total of five offending vehicles, if you like.

Using DVLA records,

Chris has been able to identify one of the truck owners that made

several trips to the lay-by.

Chris has asked him to come in for an interview under caution.

If he can make this evidence stick,

the owner of this vehicle could be in line

for a hefty fine of up to ?50,000.

The second suspect of the five we've identified from the lay-by job,

came in earlier this week.

We interviewed him.

Again, that was under caution at High Wycombe police station,

with a colleague of mine. And he initially denied any involvement.

Let me ask you -

are you responsible for the dumping of some topsoil in that lay-by

on the 7th of April? No.

Do you know anything about

the deposit of waste in that lay-by?

No.

He claimed that he'd sold the vehicle that was

pictured in the lay-by.

He claimed he'd sold the vehicle in January,

he said it was a purpose-made tree surgeon's vehicle and he said he was

on a job one day in January, when he was approached by four guys who

wanted to buy the vehicle off him.

Got approached by some fellas and then sold it to them.

There and then? Not there and then.

OK, so what happened?

Later on that day, when I was finished at work, I sold it to them.

So, they came back to your place or...?

They came to the job. They came back to the job?

Yeah.

It's near my home, so I got the logbook dropped off.

That day? Yeah. And then sold it to them.

I was quite desperate for the money, to be honest.

I didn't want to risk not being able to sell it and they were quite...

What do you call it? Persistent.

We continued with the interview,

it was funny because his body language was textbook, he was very fidgety,

his mouth was very dry.

We could almost sense, and I know it's easy for me to say with

hindsight, but you could sense that something wasn't right,

he was lying in some way or other.

And we continued to explore that story he'd given us,

making sure there were no loopholes left

and then I hit him with my ace in the pack, if you like.

Are you going to stick to that story?

Yeah. If I said I had evidence to the contrary...

I'd like to see it. OK.

I'm going to show you two photographs,

they've been given the reference CAS4. Mm.

They are photographs of your truck outside your house.

I visited his home address early one morning, and took a photograph of

the vehicle outside his house.

When I produced that photograph, in fact, that's the photograph there,

when I produced that photograph to him, A, there was a big sigh,

almost of relief from him,

because he wasn't a good liar and

his head literally rolled forward and

banged on the desk when he realised that he was captured, sort of thing.

Mm. What have you got to say about those?

Yeah, I can see what you're saying now. Yeah? Mm.

I can still tell you now that it wasn't me that done the fly-tipping.

But no dispute it was your truck?

Yeah.

OK, so you've got some thinking to do, haven't you?

Who was it? I can't say who it was.

Really? Yeah, I honestly can't.

There's danger to my life.

That's all I can say. Why do you say that?

Because I can't say who it was.

When we said to him,

"Right, what's this chap's name, what's his address?"

He just

insisted that he wasn't in a position to tell us

and he couldn't tell us.

He admitted that he knew his name,

he knew his address, but he just said he's the sort of person that

you don't mess with and he's going to have to take it on the chin.

They were his words.

I'm just going to have to take it on the chin, boys

and I'm going to have to accept that this...

Whatever you're going to do to me, sorry.

OK, let's have a look at the facts that Chris has assembled.

Multiple trips to the lay-by caught on video,

and proof that the guy still

owns the truck in question,

but the owner won't confess to being the driver responsible for the dump.

OK, Chris, will this stick?

When you've got such good evidence,

photographic evidence of people fly-tipping,

you've got a vehicle with the registration number, you can't...

You've got to do it justice, you can't stop pursuing them.

I will submit a file to our legal,

unless anything happens unexpectedly between now and then, he, I imagine,

will be summonsed to court.

There is a section within the legislation that we use, that...

um...

..imposes some liability on the owner of a vehicle

used in fly-tipping and

I think it's that section that we will be using...

Taking advantage of on this occasion.

This case has yet to go to court, but if found guilty,

this guy could be hit with a fine of up to ?50,000

and a possible jail sentence.

Over in north-east London, I'm in Havering.

A nice little friendly wave and he moves.

Yeah.

I've come out with parking officer Kam.

It's her job to make sure people park where they should, or face an

on-the-spot fine.

That sticker says why you do your job.

Yeah. Please leave space for my wheelchair.

That's a perfect example.

Disabled parking bays are meant for use by disabled drivers and if you

don't have a blue badge, you're heading for a fine and it already

looks like some of the locals are trying it on.

One, it's a disabled spot, second, she's waiting for it.

So unless you want to be getting a ticket, I'd be moving on.

Can you believe that?

Two guys in a sports car, roof down,

obviously fit and able, were about to take a disabled-badge spot.

Oh, it makes your blood boil.

And I'm not the only one.

When you can't walk somewhere without pain or you can't move,

you need easy access, you're young, you're fit, don't do it again.

Think of others. This could easily be you one day.

'I couldn't agree more.

'Hopefully, those boys will think twice next time.'

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

But it's not long before Kam spots another chancer.

This is a loading area but we don't see any loading going on.

No-one in there. Are you loading?

You went to the bank, all right,

you can't use this bay for going to the bank in future,

it is a loading bay.

Unless you're loading, don't use this bay.

I loaded something, and after I decided to go to the bank.

So, you're

meant to just off-load and go.

Oh, dear. This chap thought that he could use a commercial loading bay

when he popped to the bank. Is Kam about to give him an on-the-spot fine?

Right, you don't go to the bank in this bay.

All right. Yeah, thank you.

It seems Kam's mood is as sunny as the weather.

She's let the driver off.

That warden there, obviously has just had a little bit of a go at you.

Yeah. How do you feel about wardens?

I don't like them, especially that one.

I know this one because I parked beside my son's school and she

gave me a nice ticket for just turning the car around because my

son opened the door to get out and you're not meant to stop.

She gave me a ticket. So I had a go at her and I cussed her off.

I'm surprised she doesn't actually remember me.

So you gave her a hard time. I did, I'm not going to lie. OK.

And this time? This time I gave her a bye, actually,

because obviously I'm slightly in the wrong here,

so I'm not going to challenge her, but that time I wasn't really...

Did you pay it? I didn't.

For something that I think is stupid for just ticketing me for that little moment,

I'm not paying it.

Yeah. So that's all it is. Good luck because they can get expensive if you start losing.

Yeah, they do, they keep going to like ?400, ?500,

send a lot of bailiffs round, I just ignore them.

How are they going to get in? They can ring the doorbell all they want.

Well, that's one way to avoid a fine, but not one that I'd recommend.

So why didn't he get a ticket?

He came back and other than trying to be a bit cheeky,

he wasn't actually rude or abusive or anything.

Realistically, he knew he wasn't supposed to be here.

He wasn't loading, he didn't have a delivery note in his hand and this

is a loading bay, it's not a banking bay.

It's a reminder to always read the signs, or Kam's coming for you.

In a council car park, Kam's spotted a parking ticket that's expired.

This one is already 20 minutes out.

So I passed it, logged it and then started from that end.

So, this one's already had way over its ten minutes' grace.

This car's ticket has already run out.

If the owner doesn't return soon, I think I know what's going to happen.

'And here she comes.' Sorry?

Is this your vehicle? Yes. I've just started a ticket for it, ma'am.

It's 10:26. Yeah, it's...

Oh, BLEEP! Yup.

It's not this lady's lucky day, that's a ?130 fine.

But hang on a minute, she's back and she's had an idea.

Why, what have you suddenly noticed?

When I looked on the car earlier and you put the ticket on,

or the traffic warden put the ticket on, it was 10:26 and I looked,

in my mind I was thinking I had until half 11

but obviously forgot about that.

Just realised that the ?1.20 I put in the machine didn't register the

?1.20, it only registered a pound.

And so it's only giving me an hour's parking,

not the two hours I thought I had.

So the 20p has obviously fallen out the bottom.

The 20p had come out a couple of times but the last time I put it in

it stayed in. Obviously, if it would have fell out again,

I would have known. So you've got a very, very good reason now to appeal

that and hopefully find the adjudicator will believe you.

If you think you've been given a ticket unfairly, all is not lost.

If you are planning to appeal a ticket, what you need to do is get as much

evidence as you can as to the reason why you think it's unfair.

In this case, Tara here is now video filming the slot where she said 20p

wasn't accepted, therefore her ticket was shorter than she thought it was.

Take photographs of any road signs any lines,

anything you think might help your case because all that is crucial to

try and get the appeal turned in your favour.

Oh.

'This might be the evidence that this lady needs

'to help overturn her fine.'

OK, well, a couple of times it's rejected it, hasn't it?

Yeah. So, it's up to you, but send that little video clip and, yeah,

it might help. Always worth a go, isn't it?

Yeah, sure.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for her.

Here in London...

..you can appeal a fine by writing to the council

and attending a tribunal.

Nearly five million penalty charge notices

are issued in London every year.

Up to 50,000 of those fined are prepared to argue their case.

I received a penalty fine outside my home.

If you want to fight your corner, then you'll need to come here to the

Chancery Exchange in Central London.

Sergio Pizarro was caught on camera parking in a loading bay, and has

been landed with a ?130 fine.

But he's here to argue that he doesn't deserve the ticket.

They told me this is only purely for commercial purpose,

which it's not, because there is no sign whatsoever.

His fate is in the hands of an independent adjudicator.

Yes, hello, Mr Pizarro,

come and take a seat, please.

Almost half of all appeals are successful,

but will Sergio manage to get his ?130 fine overturned?

Shall we just take the evidence stage by stage?

Together, we can look at that moving footage.

We're not allowed to show the CCTV footage, but it looks like Belinda's

all over it.

I've pulled it forward to when your vehicle arrived and you leave

the vehicle and then we see that it

remains in situ for only a few minutes.

Three minutes. Three minutes.

Just a few minutes and then this point where you've parked,

there's no stopping at any time,

except for loading, and then there's a maximum of 20 minutes.

Looks like an open-and-shut case to me.

So, what's Sergio's excuse?

So that brings me now to your side of the story

and I'd like to hear what

you want to tell me about it,

to see whether it makes out a reason for stopping.

Did you park with the purpose of loading?

Exactly. That's why I have this evidence.

Loading and unloading is usually of pre-ordered goods.

It doesn't equate with shopping.

You can't go and buy something and then put it in your vehicle

because that, that really is taking it a bit far.

I've got a feeling he'll be stuck with that ?130 fine after all.

I just need to explore a little bit more when you say that you hadn't

paid, you were waiting, were you,

until these changes were done to the item?

So, Sergio pulled into a loading bay for three minutes.

He says that he was intending to pick up a sofa from a shop

but the sofa wasn't ready,

so he left empty-handed.

Does that warrant a ?130 fine or is Belinda going to let him off?

I've no reason to doubt that you would come here and say anything that was untrue.

If you were found to have said anything that was untrue,

that would be a serious matter.

But I've accepted your evidence, I hear what you say,

I do find that this comes within the exception of loading.

I am going to allow your appeal in this case.

MUSIC: Messiah by George Frideric Handel

Which means today is the finality, that's the end of the matter,

there's no penalty to pay and that's the end of the hearing.

You may go now.

Thank you, all the best to you.

Goodbye. I'm pleased now, everything is fine.

But it wasn't that easy.

Just goes to show, if you think you've been dealt an unfair hand,

it might just be worth arguing your case.

In Cardiff...

..litter louts better beware.

The Cagney and Lacey of the garbage world are on a stakeout.

We're just parked up here.

We've got Burger King just around the corner here,

and a lot of people drive out from the drive-through and stop at the

lights and then as they're eating it,

they throw it out the window while they're waiting.

So, what we do is, if we see them littering from a vehicle,

we take the registration number and all the details of the vehicle,

then when we get back to the office,

we put that through to the DVLA and they give us

the owner's details and then we write to the owner to ask who was driving that day.

And it's an ?80 fixed penalty, the same as littering as well.

I really hate it when you see people throwing McDonald's, Burger King,

it's just disgusting, really, isn't it?

It's horrible. And most people have got kids in the back of the car,

so they are teaching them the wrong thing as well, aren't they?

It's disgusting.

So, whether you're littering from a vehicle or you're stood there throwing stuff

on the floor, it's exactly the same.

There's no difference in it at all.

Waste enforcement officers,

Steph Marnell Jones and Lauren Main-Robson are keeping a close eye

on a local drive-through and it doesn't take them long to spot their

first offender.

Just going to give that guy a fixed penalty.

Hi, how you doing, all right?

My name's Stephanie, a waste officer for Cardiff Council.

The reason why I've come over, just saw you littering, throw the lids,

of your sauce. Even though the guy picks up the lid,

it's not enough to satisfy Steph.

This fast food junkie reckons as he's picked up the lid,

he shouldn't be punished.

You wouldn't have, though, if I didn't come over.

The bin is just over there. You were also throwing food as well.

It seems pretty clear-cut.

The man threw his ketchup lid onto the floor, so what's it going to be?

It's an ?80 fixed penalty.

So, whilst the man finishes his lunch,

Steph serves him up a less than tasty ?80 on-the-spot fine.

There you go.

Thanks for your cooperation. Use the bins. No problem.

All right? Thank you. No problem.

'He peeled the lid off the sauce and just chucked it.

'Then he threw a chip on the floor.

'And I thought, "I'm just not having that." '

So he gave me his details anyway, said he didn't know,

he said it was ridiculous, stupid, so I said,

well, I thought it was ridiculous and stupid that he was throwing litter on the floor.

Well, we took the registration number.

He didn't have any ID on him so, if he has given me any false information,

hopefully the car will bring something back if we need to go down that route.

I hope he will think about it next time he goes to throw something

out of the window, whether or not it will change his behaviour...

He didn't really seem that bothered by it.

He just thought I was wasting his time.

But you never know, hopefully.

Uh-oh, hold on.

Lauren has seen a litterer, too.

Isn't that the same place as the last guy?

There is a bin there. There is a bin over there.

Why didn't you chuck it in the bin?

"Oh, those bins."

You can't really miss them, can you?

As we sat in the vehicle, she witnessed him,

I think it was a salt packet first, it was quite small,

and then he threw another piece of litter out from his food packaging.

I'll have to just report you for the petty littering, OK?

For that assault on our streets, he faces an ?80 fine.

There is a bin to the side, a bin in front, a bin behind,

two bins the other side.

There's just no excuse for that whatsoever.

None at all. Next time, just put it in the bin.

All right? Cheers, mate, thank you.

He knew what he'd done straightaway.

He wasn't too apologetic about the situation but hopefully the ?80,

the damage to his bank account will affect him throwing in future.

But Steph is less convinced.

I think he'll do it again.

He didn't seem to care much.

But we'll just give him another fixed penalty if we catch him!

And if you're not in the car park,

don't think you're safe from Steph and Lauren's eagle eyes.

A straw's just gone out there. What is he wearing?

A vest top, I think.

Yeah, two straw wrappers have come out of there.

A driver on the main road has just spat a straw cover out of the window.

They might be making a getaway...

Male driver, female passenger.

..but they won't get away with the littering.

One straw wrapper came out by here and the other one came by there.

We've got the registration number and we'll just forward the details

to the DVLA, wait for them to come back and then issue them a fixed penalty by post.

They'll be reminded of that bit of littering in a couple of

weeks' time when a hefty fine slides through their letterbox.

It'll say, on this date at this time,

you were witnessed littering from your vehicle.

They usually ring up and go, "I don't litter from my vehicle!"

And there they were, blowing straws out of their window.

So, yeah, they'll get a fixed penalty.

After a morning binge of fast food,

you might choose to walk it off on the high street.

But litterers aren't safe there either.

Guy threw a cigarette on the floor.

The litter police have caught an elderly gent red-handed.

Hate doing old people. Excuse me.

My name is Lauren, here on behalf of Cardiff Council.

If you go and have a look, it's outside the door.

What I'm going to have to do is report you for petty littering, OK?

Unfortunately, litter is litter, whether you are old-aged or not, OK?

Just by dropping that one cigarette butt, he could be facing an ?80 fine

for littering, or they might just let him off with a warning.

It is the 19th and it was at 11:14.

There is no leniency where litter is concerned.

We will issue you with a fixed penalty. You've got 14 days to pay.

If you want to appeal it, OK, don't pay it, to appeal a fixed penalty,

or if you don't pay it'll go to court and it's up to the judge to decide.

We just issue the fixed penalty for what we saw.

It's an ?80 on-the-spot fine.

Yeah, for littering. So he's accepted the fine and now he's about to get a free gift.

I'm going to give you this, actually.

In there is like where you can put your fags and in the back is for

chewing gum as well. So just keep that on you and it saves you having

to... It can be reused.

Thank you.

But it's not just the busy main roads where you can get caught for

littering. Around the corner on a quiet residential street,

Lauren has spotted another offender.

Hiya, excuse me, hiya. My name is Lauren.

Cardiff Council. You dropped your fag on the floor.

Your cigarette on the floor. No cigarette on the floor?

OK, I seen you drop your cigarette on the floor.

But it seems there's a language barrier.

She claims that she doesn't speak English.

I think you do understand.

I wonder if she understands the phrase, "?80 fine for littering",

because that's what could be on the cards.

If you don't cooperate, I will call the police to help me with it.

She's doing a runner.

I'll follow you, then, that's fine. Well, it's more of a brisk walk.

MUSIC: William Tell Overture by Rossini

And now she's gone into hiding at home.

Obviously, I've seen this lady litter,

cigarette end onto the floor and walk away,

saying she doesn't speak English.

It's not true. If she doesn't give her details,

then I'll call the police myself, as it is an offence to withhold details

from an enforcement officer.

Either way, we'll get her details, yeah, whether she likes it or not.

If she doesn't pay, then we'll send her to court.

The litterer finally comes out of hiding.

What we need from you is your details. We'll give you the fixed penalty.

It's up to you whether or not you want to pay it, all right?

That's all we need, your details.

Eventually, the woman relents and produces her passport for ID.

Thank you. You've got 14 days to pay.

If you don't pay, it'll go to court.

It's up to you. That's the fixed penalty for littering.

Whether it's a cigarette, piece of paper, crisp packet, can of pop,

you can't throw stuff on the floor, all right?

It's not allowed. Dropping a tiny cigarette butt has ended up costing

this lady a whacking ?80.

But the problems with this resident don't stop with littering.

Your bags should go out after 4:30pm.

Yeah? I know it's collection day tomorrow, but it is after four o'clock.

OK? It's too early. All right?

Thank you.

So she's not going to pay that.

I'd say, for every, for example, ten fixed penalties,

I'd say two maybe go to court.

And all for a discarded dog end.

Now, some of these fines might seem a little harsh, but bear in mind,

when you break the law, even if it's for something that you consider is minor,

somebody out there will have their life permanently altered because of

such a minor offence.

I'm in Wiltshire.

Back on the beat with traffic cop Warren Knight.

RADIO CHATTER

'We've just had the call every traffic cop dreads.'

What's happening, Warren? Road traffic collision, car v motorcycle,

so I'm just going to go and clear this traffic.

RADIO: 46, needing backup.

'A serious smash on Warren's patch is going to take priority.'

'As we arrive at the scene,

'you don't need to be an experienced traffic cop to know this is serious.'

Oh, it's not looking very good.

There's an awful lot of mess.

'Two badly damaged cars and a motorcyclist being attended to in a field.

'Could this be the result of speeding?'

All right, fella. What have you done?

It's a serious injury, so you might not want to look.

The car that the motorcyclist has hit is in a bad way.

The bike... Well,

you can just see by the state of that bike that this is obviously not going to

be a very nice scene to be a witness to.

The motorcyclist looks badly injured.

He is still lying in the field, where he's being looked after.

Warren now needs to take charge of the scene to make sure there is no

further incidents and to secure any evidence.

This is my scene, so I don't want anybody in it.

Yeah. It's an open lower-leg fracture.

So you might want to tell the ambulance that's the case.

Bike's been coming down the A4361 and it's been struck by the Nissan

and then the bike's hit the VW.

Received.

'Roger.'

But securing the crash site is not as easy as it might seem.

What the...? Sir!

Can you stay back from the junction, please?

There's been a crash. I don't need you to go down this road.

Can you turn around for me, please?

Just reverse into that junction for me, all right?

Just keep going and reverse.

Don't cross over this bit here, OK?

So keep going back.

Heading that direction...

Stop! Don't go any further. Just reverse back.

I was trying to help the officers a minute ago,

just looking for the number plate,

so they can identify who the motorcyclist was.

His bike's there and about ten metres away is his boot.

Which sort of makes me feel a bit queasy about the whole situation.

With the Wiltshire air ambulance arriving to treat the injured

motorcyclist, Sergeant Knight needs to gather any evidence that might

point to the cause of this terrible accident.

There's a phone in her car.

I think we'll have that, see if she'll allow you to look at the messages

and see if there's a Bluetooth on it. Yeah.

If there's anything recent, we'll have the phone.

OK. But she'll have to let you...

All right? What's your instinct at the moment?

Is speed involved?

It's hard to say. Looking at the crash site,

there's no indication that the motorcyclist has braked,

so there's no reaction to him.

It is an open road.

It's a 60 limit.

So we'll never be able to determine whether speed was a factor.

I suppose there is an element now, regardless of speed at the moment,

whether somebody might have been texting or talking on the phone.

That is always something that we'll look at.

So I'm in the process of seizing phones.

Right. Establishing timelines.

Yes. So when the calls come in to when the accident happened.

There is always going to be a slight discrepancy but I need to rule out

whether that was a distracter.

It's a modern car. It may well have Bluetooth.

But even with Bluetooth, if you have an incoming call with Bluetooth,

it can distract you. Yes.

Because your mind is not on it.

But it will be determined to me to find out whether that's a call at

the junction or whether it's a call 400 or 500 metres back.

The motorcyclist has a broken leg

but is stable enough to be transferred

by helicopter to hospital in Bristol.

Warren doesn't know yet what caused this crash

but a site like this brings

home the importance of the work done to prevent speeding.

Got to say, Warren, that was a bit traumatic for me but, for you,

it's something you see on a regular basis, isn't it?

As we were discussing, probably minutes before, about why we're doing

what we're doing, why it's important to look at the education

and look at how we enforce people -

had he been coming past me in the unmarked car,

not knowing he's been speeding, it's an opportunity for me to stop him,

deal with him for a fixed penalty notice,

slow him down and just discuss the dangers of being a motorcyclist.

And it may be that if that had happened 300 yards,

400 yards up the road, he'd have come down this junction,

seen the junction and thought, you know, "I'm going too fast,

"I need to ease off and probably make myself a bit more visible," and

probably would have avoided collision and would probably be

at home now eating his tea probably.

As it is, he's in a serious condition on his way to hospital.

Of course, we don't know if anyone involved in this terrible accident

was speeding. Some of these on-the-spot penalties can actually be lifesavers.

Yeah, they can. It's about getting the message across to people that,

if you drive responsibly and carefully and make good decisions,

you will avoid collisions. You know, sometimes there is just bad luck.

You can't get away from that.

Sometimes, poor decision-making, coupled with speed or whatever,

distraction, drink or alcohol or drugs,

those things will impact how we drive.

It's important people get that message. Yeah, definitely.

That's all for today. Join me next time, when I'll be out with the men

and women who issue Britain's on-the-spot fines.