Episode 14 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. HE GRUNTS

'..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 f-? 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.'

'This time it's a case of stop-and-fine on our highways...'

How do you feel about the fact you were stopped? BLEEP off!

'..and a flaming fly-tip in Buckinghamshire.'

Look, you can see the flames right up there.

'But who's going to pay the penalty?'

That's the pile that I believe you dumped. Did you?

'And it's time to face the fines on the streets of London.'

I am actually going to

say something that you're really not going to be happy with.

I'm in Gloucestershire in the back seat of an unmarked police car

in hot pursuit of a vehicle... Oscar-Tango 5-6.

..with traffic police PC Shelley Holloway and PC Olly Buxton.

He's still holding something in his hand.

Just clearly not paying attention.

'The unmarked car is the perfect cover to keep the motorway safer by

'sniffing out misbehaving motorists and issuing on-the-spot fines.'

Olly just spotted somebody in a vehicle there with his mobile

phone in his hand. Not using it at this point.

What Shelley's done, she's dropped into this inside lane now

to allow this person to overtake

just to see if he's suddenly using his phone.

'If he is, it could be three penalty points on his licence

'and a fine of ?100.'

I think he's got it in his left hand,

holding it up in front of his face.

That's probably a satnav thing, is it? Where he's using it?

No, I think he's talking on loudspeaker perhaps.

He's just passed. No, he's seen us now. He's seen us.

He knows that we're police. Well, I think it's worth a chat.

Cos I saw him holding it in his hand, so...

He's put his seatbelt on as well now. See that?

Put his seatbelt... That's when he wobbled.

Not wearing a seatbelt. It just gets worse.

That's an offence that could hit him with an on-the-spot fine of ?100.

How's it going? Can I see your phone, please?

Who were you on the phone to? What were you holding your camera for?

The driver claims he's been using his camera but Shelley is not

taking his word for it.

Who were you on the phone to? You were holding it in your hand.

There's a lot of activity on your phone, isn't there?

And suddenly all the call history has just gone.

All the call history is gone. That's messages.

All the call history is gone.

So where are they from the previous day?

It doesn't wash with me that you were using it,

holding a camera in your hand. It doesn't wash with me.

Have you got points on your licence at the moment?

Can I have your driving licence? No identification on you?

What's the situation here, Shelley?

So, he's point-blank denied using his mobile phone.

There's no call history for today, which is unusual.

Lots of text messages exchanged but nothing recent.

There is activity on his phone and there's

a voicemail icon up ready to notify him he's got a voicemail.

He's saying he was holding his camera in his hand and didn't

realise but he has admitted not wearing his seatbelt. Right.

So... What do you feel about that?

He's obviously someone who's quite switched on, isn't he?

Yeah. We get it all the time.

They think they're using excuses and, you know,

I can't prove categorically he was using his phone.

All we do know he was holding something in his hand and

he has got a camera and a phone on the passenger seat.

Obviously you know why you've been stopped. Yeah.

The officers thought you were on the phone

and you weren't wearing a seatbelt, I believe.

Yeah. No seatbelt, yeah.

How do you feel about the fact you were stopped? Erm...

Be honest. Erm... BLEEP.

Yeah. But it's my own fault. I wasn't on the phone.

But I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. So, you know. OK.

Caught again. Second time. Second time, no seatbelt. Yeah.

Why wouldn't you wear it? I don't know.

I just jump in lorries in the morning and they haven't got any

so you get lazy, don't you, I suppose.

When you say you're cheesed off about being stopped, is that

with the officers or yourself? With myself.

I don't know if you're going to receive a fixed penalty notice,

whether they do that at the moment. If you do...

If they do, then I just have to pay it and be more cautious in future.

Yeah. Do you have any resentment about being pulled over?

No, not really. No. Will it change the way you drive? Yeah.

I'll put my seatbelt on for a bit so, yeah.

At what point did you realise that you were about to be pulled over?

When I seen all them yellow jackets. Ah, right. Yeah.

Then I put my seatbelt on quick. So, what stacks up in this case?

He could have been using his mobile phone.

That would be a ?100 fine plus three penalty points.

And not wearing his seatbelt, that could be another ?100 fine.

Shelley's decided to drop the phone charge.

But what about the other offence he admitted to?

What we will deal him for is the seatbelt. OK. So there it is.

A ?100 fine and all for not belting up.

Does it annoy you when you get someone like him who

has got excuses that you have to take as being true

and your instinct might not necessarily think it is?

Is it frustrating?

It's annoying that people aren't as honest as what they should be,

but I think it will still stop him using it in the future.

'One on-the-spot fine down and we're back on the motorway.'

We've got a trailer in the middle lane.

I don't know if you notice there, the right wheel is clearly...

I would say that's probably beyond unbalanced.

That's actually the bearing on it because it's... It's wobbling badly.

It's wobbling badly, so I don't think it'll be very long

before that will fly off.

You know, he's travelling in excess of the speed limit.

When you're towing a trailer, it's 60mph and he's doing 70.

So we'll just do a following check and see before we stop him.

'If his wheel falls off at 70mph, he'll have

'a lot more to worry about than just a fine.'

There's a fair old wobble on that trailer, isn't there? Yeah.

Don't brake on lane one. Use the hard shoulder, please.

You do sometimes get that where people will actually just

stop in the lane. Really? I've had it in lane three. On a motorway?

On a motorway. I'll go and have a word with him. OK, no problem.

Maybe he didn't know the speed limit.

Nope, he's got it written on the back. No excuses there then.

So, it's this wheel here.

Have you got a tool or anything to remove the cap

so I can check all your wheel nuts are present?

'The offending wheel will be scrutinised once PC Holloway's found the right tools.'

Don't worry. I'll get the crowbar then. You've just been stopped.

Were you aware you could only do 60? Yes. Yeah. OK.

I thought as much, cos you've got a sticker on your trailer there.

And I do try and keep to it, but... That's good.

..on this occasion I was going faster. I don't normally speed.

What will Shelley find?

A car that is seriously unroadworthy can earn the driver a ?5,000 fine.

So, what are we dealing with here?

A driver breaking the 60mph speed limit for a car towing

a trailer, and that can be a ?100 fine.

And the trailer itself, which appears to be unroadworthy,

that can be up to a ?5,000 fine.

But has Shelley been able to find anything conclusive?

Could be the brake on one side. You just don't know.

Could be a lot of things. Just get it checked. All right.

I will do that. OK, thanks for your time. Take care. Bye-bye.

Shelley hasn't found anything obviously wrong with the trailer,

so he can continue on his way with no fine and just a warning.

Shelley, you could have potentially written out two tickets on that last stop.

What made you decide to give the guy just an advisory note? A warning?

Well, I think possibly the wheel vibration was due to the speed,

so we've solved both of those by giving him some advice,

and he was only 9mph over the speed limit allowed when you're towing a trailer.

So for me, I used my discretion then and decided he'd benefit from

education, and then it solved the wheel problem, too.

Councils have to deal with about 900,000 cases of fly-tipping

every single year. That's about 2,500 every day.

And this crime against the environment

gets you hot under the collar.

fly-tipping, definitely fines, cos, you know,

someone dropping a bit of paper, yeah, it's not cool but someone

dropping 30 washing machines on your doorstep, that's not so cool.

I think fly-tipping is disgusting and people are just happy to

see their stuff disappear if they're throwing it out,

without knowing where it's going.

You know, we all live quite near tips and things

if there's stuff to get rid of.

You should just have a bit of respect for your environment

and if you've got too much rubbish, go to the tip, surely.

If it's someone that's a clearance company that have left the

litter on the street or the footway or just dumped it and fly-tipped,

I think it's disgusting. They should be prosecuted.

fly-tipping, I think there should be a fine for that as well,

because otherwise the place would be a mess, really.

Don't be lazy. Go and find the right way to get rid of your rubbish.

But fly-tippers beware, because a fine might be coming your way.

Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money

is spent clearing up illegally dumped waste

and, in Buckinghamshire, David Rounding and Chris Smith are

waste enforcement officers.

Their specialist subject...? You guessed it - waste.

Possibly the worst cargo to spill is milk.

Cos if that gets in the water table, it causes all sorts of...

It has the highest... We call it a biochemical oxygen demand.

Milk has the highest biochemical... I knew that. I knew that.

It's their job to track down illegal dumpers and make them pay.

A concerned resident in the village of Langley has given them a tip-off.

This is the entrance where they drive in.

They've been able to reverse in and get completely out of sight

from the road and deposit the waste in that location.

You can see now it's starting to fill up slightly

so they are...or would now be visible from the road.

But that doesn't seem to have deterred them.

They still keep coming back.

Over the past few weeks, this field on the edge of the village

has been the scene of illegal waste dumps.

The scale of it even shocks veterans like David and Chris.

It's a horrific pile. There's in the region of six-to-eight

decent truckloads of waste here.

It's a nice area, completely blighted by this.

You do tend to hypothesise when you turn up to these events and

try and work out what they were thinking.

Erm, but I just can't on this occasion.

David and Chris have had the site under observation for the last week.

But in the past few days and before the council could clear it up,

this local environmental disaster took a turn for the worse.

Look, you can see the flames right up there.

They got obviously a significant fire.

And right the way back there, as well.

I was aware that it took the fire brigade in the region of two hours

to be satisfied the fire was out.

That tells you... It's got to tell you it's a significant fire

that could cause a lot of harm.

Despite a lot of charred remains,

Dave and Chris are here to search for clues.

If they find who's responsible and it goes to court,

the charge could be pretty steep.

The maximum fine for fly-tipping is ?50,000 and possibly

a 12-month jail sentence.

We get a lot of results out of this, what we call bag-diving,

ie sort of going through the bags to try and find evidence.

Oh! And it looks like whoever dumped this stuff

didn't cover their tracks.

It looks like a delivery label from a supplier to a kitchen fitter.

Or fitting company, anyway.

So it could be from this label that the kitchen fitting company

might be able to identify who their customer was.

So it's... Yeah, it's possible.

It's the kind of lead environmental waste officers dream of.

On a job of this size, the stakes are high.

They want to have their cake and eat it

ie they want to charge the client for dealing with the waste,

but then they want to dump it illegally and save the cost of

disposing of it lawfully.

We go to dumps like this every day of the week for 25 years.

We don't want it. We're paid to stop it happening.

I understand the person who's done this is motivated by money

and they've saved themselves some money. A few hundred pounds.

And hopefully we'll end up prosecuting them and the

court will make sure that they pay more than that.

Chris and Dave suspect the site has become a dumping hotspot.

They've got a secret weapon.

When they first discovered the dump, they installed

a motion activated CCTV camera to catch any returning tippers.

Well, that's another fine mess you've got me into!

A few days later, Dave and Chris review the first bit of evidence

caught on camera.

By six o'clock that evening, it had already filmed its first offence.

A truckload of waste and, coming off the site

a few minutes later, with the truck empty.

It was the registration of the vehicle that the covert camera saw.

There's been a breakthrough.

Chris has tracked down the truck owner,

who's volunteered to be interviewed,

but knows nothing about the covert camera footage.

This is our opportunity before a decision is made whether

they're prosecuted or not to see the evidence and comment upon it.

The evidence for this particular chap is very, very encouraging.

On his way in, it shows waste in the back of the truck and on his

way out, it shows the back of the truck is empty.

All in all, this guy's got some problems.

Did he do it? Was the owner in the truck?

Chris would like some answers.

This interview is conducted under caution.

Caution says you do not have to say anything but it may harm your

defence. This incident is involving a black Isuzu truck. Yeah.

Do you own that vehicle? Yes.

Did you deposit some waste in the hedgerow?

In the woods? Yes. No. Between the road and the field.

Right now the suspect hasn't got a clue about the camera footage.

But he's no stranger to the site.

You say you've seen the rubbish there. Yeah.

The rubbish I'm talking about. Yeah.

Obviously not all of it, because there's probably eight-to-ten

lorry loads. There's a hell of a lot there. Yeah. The only...

Every time I've went, there's been more dumped.

This side, have you seen that bit? Yes. There's some green waste.

Yeah, yeah. The tree waste. Yeah. So, you didn't dump any of that? No.

You don't know anything about it. No.

I decided to put a hidden camera in that location. Yeah.

Now you know that, do you want to change what you're saying to me? No.

No? OK. Here's the tape. You sure? Yeah.

Cos I don't want you to look... You're digging yourself a hole...

Yeah. And I don't want you to look worse than you are,

let's put it that way. Yeah.

So you're sticking to your story so far.

For a minute.

You're grinning. For a minute. All right.

Let me show you some more photographs.

His attitude started to change.

I then mentioned to him that I, as a result of visiting there in

the morning, I installed a hidden camera at the location.

And I think that was the point where he realised the game was up.

That's the pile that I believe you dumped. Yeah. Did you?

I might have done. Tell us, then. I did dump that bit. OK.

What's the story? Where did it come from?

He admitted that it was for payment, which is a significant factor,

and that he brought it out from the Southall area.

This is fly-tipping on an industrial scale, with photographic evidence

and an admission of guilt.

So, what will the penalty be?

I would anticipate this case will go to the Magistrates Court. Yes.

He'll end up with a significant fine and

a significant award of costs to the council for all the effort

that it takes to get these people to the court.

So, this case could be going to court,

where the maximum fine for fly-tipping is ?50,000.

It's a painful charge with a significant crime,

and a result for the council,

who turned the case around in a matter of weeks.

The word will have got round to the local community that we can

respond quickly to incidents,

install a camera if it's necessary and appropriate,

and track them down very quickly,

and it just, it will be a great deterrent for the future.

Kam Paul is a civil enforcement officer

with Havering District Council in the north-east London.

I don't think she just went to the pharmacy because there's

no way it took an hour and a half, unless they're operating on you.

She takes no-nonsense and, if anyone dishes it out,

she's got the kit to prove it.

Right, you can't drop off here at this time.

At what point do you turn this camera on?

Normally I would turn it on as soon as someone approaches me... OK.

..cos you want the conversation to be on film

and that's mainly because you'd be amazed at how many people go back,

complain to the council

and just totally fabricate the whole statement.

What sort of things have been made up?

"She swore at me.

"She told me to F off.

"She threatened me. She gave me attitude.

"She almost hit me." I've even had people say that.

Is any of it true? Of course not!

Kam soon spots her first potential offender.

If it doesn't say free parking or it doesn't have a bay,

you're parked somewhere where you're not supposed to be. Right.

This is a loading bay... Yeah.

..which is designed for vans and HGVs only.

Let's look at this case -

parking in a loading-only bay.

Designated for larger vehicles.

This is an offence.

So, does this person get a grace time or is it instant ticket?

No, it's an instant. Ouch. Ouch, yeah.

Mind you, with a motor like that, I think he can probably afford it.

Parking here has just cost this driver ?130.

I've got to say, nice car. My nephew's got the same one.

We were admiring it, yeah. You were admiring it a bit too much, I think.

Yeah, sorry.

I'm just wondering, the reason I parked here...

Are all the rest of those loading bays getting tickets as well? No.

Now, I am actually going to say something that you're really

not going to be happy with. There's no time plate over there...

Right. ..so that is a free bay

and that's why they're all parked with no ticket.

Come over here, sir.

The way bays work, they've all got their own time plate

and, especially with these, these are actually two loading bays.

Two completely separate loading bays.

Yeah, cos you've got a big yellow line in between, separating them.

I'm learning something every day. So am I. I didn't know that.

So basically, the way it works is

this bay has its own time plate,

there's a yellow line to break up the bay,

and this is a separate loading bay

but it's not being used right now, there's no time plate.

So where's the lamppost that tells you the time for that?

There isn't one. That's exactly what I'm trying to explain to you.

If any bay, whether it's a loading bay or resident bay

or a pay-and-display, if it doesn't have a time plate,

it turns into a free bay,

because if the bay does not instruct the driver,

if it doesn't give the details to the driver

as to what kind of bay it is,

what days it's enforceable and what times... Anyone can park there.

..then anyone can park there. 'You learn something new every day.'

It's a stark reminder to always check the signs when you park

or you could end up with a fine.

I'm going on to that site.

Where should I park? Well... Obviously not here.

Obviously not there.

You could leave it there for the whole day but...

I'll move it. ..technically, yeah,

the best thing to do would be park it into that bay.

I just saw you arguing your point there with the traffic warden.

You don't seem very happy. It doesn't make sense, though.

I've moved my car five yards and that's...that's...

a ticketable offence and that's free.

Are you pretty aggrieved by what's happened?

Yes. To me, it seems silly but, at the end of the day,

I'm not going to stand here

and argue cos I've got better things to do with my time. Yeah.

Obviously, appeal is something you can do. Yeah.

You did mention a point there -

is it worth your time and money to do that? Are you going to?

I probably will, depending on how much it is.

It's ?65 now. 130 if you don't pay it within a short period of time.

So I'll appeal it. I'll just take pictures and send it off

telling them, to me, it doesn't make much sense. Yeah.

I can see where you're coming from. I think we were both educated then.

I didn't realise that was the difference.

If he'd parked a few metres further forward in the first place,

he could have saved himself a lot of money.

You certainly need a thick skin to be a traffic warden,

but even Kam has a softer side.

Oh! I don't want to give this car a ticket.

Because he's got a dog on the back seat? Oh, God, he's so cute.

I did see the dog after. I really feel bad now.

They may have left the dog in a well-ventilated car in the shade,

but I'm afraid the driver is still in the doghouse with a ?130 fine.

Next, Kam has spotted a car parked in a pay-and-display car park

where some drivers have been trying their luck.

Why do you think somebody's blatantly parked there?

You're standing over there by the machine and they

disappeared without even bothering to get a ticket.

Chances are, two options.

They probably thought it's free because the machine's covered up.

They probably haven't read it properly.

Or they've read it and thought, "Do you know what?

"I'm only going round the corner to get at tea from Greggs.

"I'll be back within ten minutes."

Cos they all know we have to give them a ten-minutes grace,

so some of them will just race against the clock and think,

"As long as I'm back in ten minutes, I'm all right."

What's the case against this vehicle?

Parking in a permit holders only car park.

After a ten-minute observation period,

she could hand out a fixed penalty notice.

Once that issues a ticket, that's it.

There's no way you can go, "Oh, sorry, all right.

"I'll give you a chance. I'll cancel it." No.

Kam does what the law requires and waits.

Time's up and this motorist's wallet just got a whole lot lighter.

To me, I mean, 11 minutes is enough time to get change from anywhere.

Ouch. It's a ?130 on-the-spot fine.

You've left the vehicle.

Whether you've got delayed now or not,

you've left it initially with no ticket and no intention to pay.

Why should you not get a ticket?

Bearing in mind, these, you know... Everyone else has paid.

I can see your argument. They've all paid good money for their permits.

Why should this driver not get a ticket and everybody else pay

for their parking?

Now, you can appeal your ticket,

but you can't avoid it just by chucking it away.

Surely that means now, if they don't pay that,

it's going to go up to 130 quid? Yeah.

Kam issued this one to another car earlier.

Clearly, the driver isn't a fan of parking enforcement.

I wonder if they've taken it out the actual envelope. Nope.

I guarantee you.

It's in there. Yeah, you're right.

That's a driver who constantly parks here.

Every day, this person will get themselves a ticket,

they will just chuck it and drive off.

Well, they must be paying. Nope.

So basically one day they're going to get pulled over,

someone's going to grab them

and they're going to have a huge amount of tickets to pay for.

Is it a criminal offence?

Yeah, because basically what we have to do when tickets aren't paid

is wait for three of them to reach warrant stage

and then they send bailiffs.

I can hardly keep up with her. She's like a whippet.

So far today, I've already seen Kam issue three tickets,

so I've got a burning question that most of us want answered.

Are you financially rewarded for the amount of tickets you issue? No.

Absolutely not. Under any circumstances.

You could go out one day, issue zero tickets,

you will be paid the exact same amount

for the following day if you issued 100 tickets.

Are you target-driven?

Are you told to issue as many tickets as possible?

That is the part of the job where people get confused.

They're all under the impression that we're on commission and

they're all under the impression that we're on targets,

which is not true.

In Pendle, Lancashire, there's been a report of

a serious case of fly-tipping and the big guns are on the case.

INDISTINCT

David Alexander is head of the Environmental Crime Team.

Along with his colleague, Jeff Brown,

they have been summoned to a fly-tipping offence.

This builders' waste appeared overnight.

The culprit could be hit with a ?400 fine,

but the team need clues to track them down.

That's interesting.

Take a photograph of the bag.

David suspects the waste

may have come from the house behind this wall.

It's all a matter of connecting this rubbish to over there.

And a key piece of evidence would seem to confirm his suspicions.

There's a tape measure in there.

It's broken. There's no...

There's no tape in it.

And, lo and behold, just over the...

over the wall, in the fire, there's a bit of tape measure.

So it proves that it's his rubbish.

When you shift the bag...

Shift the bag.

That's been there a few days. It's all green under there.

It's actually our land,

and he's not got permission from the Parks Department or anybody

to put his stuff on there.

What have we got down here?

But the illegal dumping doesn't end there.

There's more builder's waste

chucked next to this stream a few yards away in the local park.

If this waste can be linked to the same offender,

it's a bigger deal than they first thought.

Again, it's dumping.

It's more than a couple of bags' worth, so it will be fly-tipping.

A few bags of rubbish the wrong side of a garden wall

could be dealt with by means of a fixed-penalty notice of ?400,

but this looks like a much bigger dump

and could be classed as fly-tipping,

potentially punishable in court with a fine of up to ?50,000,

and David could take this to court if the evidence is strong enough.

If you want to pull the branches out...

Right, that has got to match.

David is now on the hunt for anything that will tie this

load of rubbish to the waste left outside the house.

He has noticed a few cut-off trees in the back garden.

There you are.

Perfect match.

He can't... He hasn't got an excuse now.

That's been dumped down an embankment,

obviously out of sight,

so he's obviously no intention of clearing that out.

The property owner suddenly appears.

Are you having some work done here? Yes. So you've authorised...

You're having the work done?

The woman says she is having a patio made by a local builder.

So, what is all this rubbish over here?

What is the rubbish down the side of the banking?

She says the work is still going on

but the waste by the stream is nothing to do with her.

He has basically fly-tipped a load of your stuff onto the park.

He has then also taken some of the stuff, he has just slung them

down the embankment, and I'm not prepared to have that happen.

He has fly-tipped, so I need to speak to him.

She tries ringing him, but he's not picking up.

She says it's not her problem.

So, ultimately, madam, it is, because it's your waste.

It's stuff from your property.

Now, if you say the builder's doing it, that's fine.

We'll speak to the builder.

The homeowner has a phone number for her builder,

but she doesn't want to hand it over.

Well, it's your responsibility. I will need those details from you,

otherwise you will be held responsible for your waste.

This has been here quite a few days, because the grass

has gone yellow underneath the bags.

Eventually she sees sense and, after a call from Jeff, the builder

comes back to confess and possibly face a pretty hefty fine.

He threw it down. I didn't know. Sorry about that.

He's here to face the music.

But the builder claims the waste in the park is down to a workmate.

He threw it, I didn't know about it.

But when faced with the evidence outside the house,

it doesn't take long for him to crumble.

Yeah, I put that there. You put that there? OK.

And I meant to take it away.

Yeah, you meant to, but it's not been taken away,

it's been here for a few days. That's the offence of fly-tipping.

Oh? Yeah. Did you know that?

THAT most certainly is. THAT is an offence of fly-tipping.

You have got a responsibility, as a tradesman.

You're accountable for it and you must pay the consequences for it.

OK? Do you know what the penalty is for fly-tipping? No.

So, what's the offence here?

A patio renovation that has turned into fly-tip...

over the wall into a council park and into the bushes.

This guy accepts the waste by the wall is his,

but he's still blaming his mate for the dump in the bushes.

What's the penalty to be?

?50,000 and five years in prison is the maximum. Right?

So that's how serious fly-tipping is.

However, it can be dealt with by way of a fixed-penalty notice,

which comes in at ?400.

For this offence, it's a ?400 fine,

AND he'll have to move the waste.

They will also be chasing his colleague

for the streamside rubbish.

I will be more careful with waste, but the problem is,

when you go down to the recycling,

they're charging you for everything, like, you know, the stone rubble...

You go down with the van and they charge you ?60, you know?

People can't afford that. So that's why there's a lot of fly-tipping.

It's their own fault.

So, I feel a good day's work by Jeff.

People don't deserve to have their green spaces ruined by builders.

One case solved, but it's one of many in Pendle.

Jeff is now joining his colleague, Matty Hargreaves, across town,

where the problem is a whole lot bigger.

Another fly-tip on the back street, but this one is more or less...

A significant fly-tip? Yeah.

Ah!

This huge pile of waste was dumped in one go,

and it's a blockade of a whole alleyway.

Whoever did this could be hit with a fine or even taken to court.

Not acceptable at all. It's blocking the whole back street.

No-one can get up or down it, really, without clambering over it.

It's down to Matty and Jeff to find a clue to the offender,

and the soon-to-be-owner of a hefty fine.

It's waste. It's just everywhere.

There's wood, there's old settees.

There's old rags and things like that.

And it's just not acceptable to dump your waste

and expect other people to clear it up.

Matty has spotted what looks like the contents of a house

in the pile and realises, just around the corner,

is a house that has been recently gutted.

It's finding the stuff that's on the back street that's related

to the house, and that's going to be the difficult part.

Time for a bit of bag-diving to link this dump to the house in question.

What have we got here?

I've got an envelope there. Name and address on it.

Clearly come from the bag.

This is the first bit of tangible evidence we've got

linking a name and an address to this.

Happy days...ish.

Now some door-knocking to find the answers.

There's no-one at the house in question

but an outraged neighbour IS home.

It made me feel really frustrated,

where we couldn't get out the back gate. And I was mad.

I was absolutely mad. I called the police.

You don't want to live in an area that is full of rubbish.

You don't want to see things that breeds rats.

If they're caught doing it,

I think they should be fined and at least some jail time.

Let's have a look at Matty and Jeff's evidence.

A massive pile of waste blocking the whole alleyway,

a house that has been recently gutted,

and an address in the rubbish linking the pile to the property.

We've got a bit of work to do in relation to trying to find

the individual named in the letters we've got.

There is a lot of detective work ahead, but if the lead pays off then

this fly-tip could result in some lazy litter lout ending up in court.

But in the meantime, someone has got clear the rubbish.

We've got to pay for actually removing it,

so it's all money that the taxpayer picks up, really,

because somebody is too lazy to dispose of the waste properly.

In Gloucestershire, PC Holloway and PC Buxton are on patrol.

The front seat passenger is a child in the car in front,

and you can barely see his head over there door,

so I just want to make sure

that he's in the right car seat and find out why he's in the front,

because it's always preferable to have children in the back...

because the adult airbags are for adults.

I mean, in these big cars,

the seating area at the front is quite large,

so it could be perfectly fine,

but a child has got to be in a child seat up until the age of 12,

or 135cm, whichever they reach first.

It's the drivers responsibility to ensure passenger safety,

so this motorist could face an on-the-spot fine.

The reason I've stopped you is, I've just seen you've got

a child in the front passenger seat who looks quite small.

Why would it be your preference for her to sit in the front?

This driver thought the best way to stop her daughter misbehaving

was to let her sit in the front.

But after some gentle persuasion from PC Holloway,

the girl decides to relocate to the back seat.

Until your body gets big enough,

this adult seatbelt would be too high.

If you weren't sat on this,

it would be too high round your neck and then if Mummy

has to brake hard, because another driver pulls out in front of her,

the seatbelt would jar and you could get more injured.

So, when you're sat on this nice seat,

it's perfectly across your shoulder.

So then, if Mummy brakes hard and you have to go forwards,

it's not going to hurt you. It's going to save you.

The daughter may be causing her mother grief,

but it's up to the driver to make sure young ones are safe.

The question is, will PC Holloway fine the parent?

Let's take a look at the law.

All passengers need to wear seatbelts, including children,

but if the child is under 135cm tall

before their 12th birthday, then he or she needs to be on

a suitable booster, or sitting on a seat with a seatbelt extender.

If not, the driver could face a ?100 on-the-spot fine,

so what's it to be?

I'm not going to be giving you a fixed-penalty notice today,

or a report. It's just a warning, really.

But in future, obviously,

anyone under the age of 14 is the driver's responsibility.

No charge this time.

Instead, a few stern words to both mother and daughter from the police.

There seemed to be a parental issue there where the daughter wasn't

doing what she was told, so we had a bit of a chat and I think

from now on, she'll be doing as Mum tells her in the car.

SIREN BLARES

Back on the road, the alarm bells are ringing.

I'm going after this white van, it's got a light out.

And it's driving like a loon.

So, we are just going to run it through first of all,

see who might own it. Insurance is held.

Ford Transit white panel van.

Driving without fully working lights is an offence that could

leave the driver with an on-the-spot fine.

Hiya.

I just stopped you because your brake light is out.

Oh, is it? I didn't realise. Yeah, this one is out.

Don't panic. Is it yours? Yes. Got your driving licence handy?

No, I don't. Any ID? Only my Gas Safe.

This van is about to get the once-over.

Indicate.

OK. That one.

OK, flash.

But it seems the van has seen better days.

So, you have got a side light out.

That one is missing. Your headlights are out as well.

So, it's only your main beam that works. I didn't know that.

That's with your main beam turned off, you've got no headlights.

I didn't know. It was all right last night. I travelled from Swindon.

When I asked you to turn the headlights on,

it was defaulted to the main beam. I'll get that sorted.

You've got three bulbs out here and your brake light, all right?

I wasn't aware of that. Well, you should be.

You need to check it every day. It was all right last night.

I didn't check it this morning because I came to work in daylight.

If we suddenly had a downpour and it got really dark and you

turned your headlights on, that is all you'd have, that side light.

I'll rectify that tonight. Yeah. No problem.

PC Holloway is not done yet.

She carries on her checks inside the vehicle.

Don't forget your hat. I'll get it in a minute.

The handbrake is on the very last notch.

You have to yank it up.

I'll get the lights looked at and then I'll get that looked at.

So, a long list of faults. Defective lights could attract a ?50 fine.

The police have powers to take faulty vehicles off the road.

So, we stopped the van because it had no brake light,

and on checking the vehicle over,

none of the front headlights work apart from one side bulb.

So we've got three defective lights. The handbrake is borderline.

It does stop the vehicle, but only if you yank it up,

so that's not an offence yet.

So we will be giving him a vehicle defect rectification notice,

a VDRS, for him to get the lights fixed and checked

and send it back to us to prove that he has done it.

So, it's a vehicle defect rectification notice

for this driver,

which means he's got 14 days to get the work done

or face court proceedings.

If I can get you to sign the form here, I'll give you your copy.

Because I am reporting you for an offence

which may or may not end up in court,

I've got to caution you and give you an opportunity to reply to that.

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if

you do not mention now something which you later rely on in court,

and anything you do say may be given in evidence.

There you go, then. That's yours. Any questions at all? No. OK.

Are you going straight back now? Straight away. OK. Swindon.

I've got to drop them off and then I'll try and get my van fixed.

Obviously, if you have adverse weather and it's dark enough

that you need your lights on,

I would advise you to pull over and wait for the weather to pass,

because you're not visible like that at the moment. OK. OK? OK.

No problem. Take care. I will. Thanks. Thank you.

Olly and Shelley are on their way again,

and it's from one white van man to another. Or should that be two?

These two are having a conversation, the Vauxhall...

Tell him to pull over and the other one.

It's not the time to have a conversation, on the roundabout,

with him.

Careless and inconsiderate driving can lead to a fine of ?5,000.

It's not the place to have a conversation, is it? No, it's not.

You were holding up all that traffic. Was it that important?

Oh, yeah, that old story. Ridiculous.

The first driver claims he was asking for directions.

Time to speak to the other driver.

Not the time or place to have a conversation, on the roundabout.

He claims the other guy was asking to buy his truck from him.

Oh, that's funny. He told me a different story. I'm not having it.

You don't do it.

If you knew him, you pull over and speak to him on the phone.

Just drive on, because you can't hold up other traffic

just to have a chitchat, can you? All right.

No fine, but a serious ticking-off.

Cor, that's the way.

You see nothing all day and then we're just trying to go home,

two instances within the space of two of three minutes.

Right, let's go home.

One thing is for sure,

the men and women who hand out these fines don't have it easy.

That's it for today. Join me next time for more Dom On The Spot.

If there is nothing new, then the Court of Appeal

aren't going to change their decision.

You have to question everything.

There were two areas of fingerprints on the carrier bag.

It's an obvious case to re-examine.