Episode 3 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.

Down here, they are an absolute blight.

-So, I'm up to 104 now.

-Wow!

-That is disgusting.

-Just walk away.

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

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

'..simply selfish...'

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

'..or just, well, plain silly.'

What a doughnut!

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

£100 fine.

Pays £260.

'..and how this could affect you.'

-Might give him a punch.

-Do you want to see me kick off?

'The police are on it...'

What the...?!

'..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, I'm at the scene of the grime, and it stinks...'

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

rubbish...? I don't even like standing next to it.

'..we meet a driver who could be heading for more than a fine...'

-Blow.

-AIR HISSES

Keep going, keep going.

Yeah, the legal limit's 35, and you've just blown...

'..and we have trouble keeping up on the M4.'

Oh, crikey, he's racing, isn't he?

Disgusting, isn't it? How would you like to live next door to that?

And the next time you see someone littering,

bear in mind that in England alone, it costs the council about

half a billion pounds a year to clear it up.

But here's a message for you litter louts - the next time you do

an illegal drop like that, it could end up costing you a lot of money.

I think it's absolutely disgusting that people just think they can just

throw their rubbish out and expect other people just to walk round it.

-Just throw it on the streets, and it's wrong.

-Yeah.

-Definitely.

Well, I think the taxpayers' money's wasted

on the irresponsible people that's doing this,

and the sooner that they get fined for it - heavy fine -

it'll mean others don't do it.

It's not good. It's messing up the whole place.

Cardiff is a city with a rubbish problem.

The city's landfill sites are overflowing, and the council

has got to find somewhere else for all that rubbish to go.

So they're waging war on waste.

I'm just going to search through these now to find some evidence,

see where they've come from.

This is waste enforcement officer Steph Marnell Jones,

who loves the challenge.

SHE LAUGHS

There's a spider in there!

Well, most of the time.

Steph has had a report of some illegally dumped rubbish.

I think the first fine of the day could be pretty close,

so the journey out should give me a few moments to get to know

my co-worker a little bit better.

I don't know whether it was destiny that I would do this job,

but even when I was younger, when I was little,

I wouldn't even put things in public bins, I would take them home!

SHE LAUGHS

In case they felt lonely, in case the rubbish felt lonely,

-I'd put it in my house bin!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Hang on, you felt sorry for the rubbish?

-Yeah!

So it must have been destiny I was going to do this job.

You need a check-up from the neck up, don't you?

Steph's mission is to educate the people of Cardiff to chuck

away their waste correctly and, if that doesn't work, to enforce,

which means on-the-spot fines.

And as I'm Dom On The Spot, that's why I'm here.

See, that's bad. Look at this open food-waste bin there.

Yeah, that's disgusting.

So, as a situation now, because the council - and quite rightly, too -

wants to get people to recycle more of their waste,

you've now made their general-waste bins smaller.

Therefore, if they've got too much general waste and

they put it into different bags, they could be liable for a penalty.

-Yeah.

-I think it's a really, really good idea.

I could also think it's actually...

It could get a little bit confusing, cos, to a lot of people, a lot of

the general public, not people like you working in the industry,

-there's a point where actually

-I

-don't know sometimes what is

-general waste and what is recyclable.

-Yeah.

Some councils can recycle different things.

That's why, whenever I'm searching a bag, I'm thinking,

you know, "Have they been spoken to before?"

You know, when I go back, we'll always check the system first,

-you know?

-Right.

So we educate the residents, and we give them information and

leaflets and booklets and we help them all we can.

But, you know, if they continue to not do it correctly,

that's when we will give the fixed penalty.

I'm not just an enforcement officer, I'm an education officer as well

and we educate first and we enforce next.

'So, just what form does that enforcement -

'that's fines to you and me - actually take?'

What's wrong with the waste is all these items - some of them

are recyclable, but obviously the nappies can't go in there.

And food waste in there, as well.

'I'm pretty sure there's a fine

'on the cards for this stinking pile.'

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

-rubbish...? There's food in it. I mean, it smells.

-Yeah.

-All right?

It's dirty.

I don't even like standing next to it, and you're handling it.

OK, you've got gloves on, but this bag's full of poo, isn't it?

To be honest with you, it's not very nice,

but I've gotten used to it over the years.

Some days, it gets to you and you just think, agh!

'I think Steph could be moving towards a fine for this mess,

'but a fine needs a villain, and the only way to find out who

'might have left it here is to riffle through this lot.'

I'd give you a hand, but I haven't got any gloves.

'Did I mention that it stinks?

'But wait, our first clue as to who this horrible mess belongs to.'

So, we've got a bank statement here, which has the name there.

Well, actually, can I just have it?

You've got to be stupid to put a bank statement in a bin, anyhow.

Not just cos it's got your details on it, the amount in the account,

it says the sort code, account number, how much you've got, name...

Yeah, everything there.

The address is just here, so she lives above the shop here.

'That's a result.

'It looks like this litter lout has dumped their rubbish

'right outside their door.

'So, are we looking at a £100 fine or just a warning?'

-I'll probably put her under notice.

-That's a warning, isn't it?

-Yeah.

If you put her under that, she doesn't get a penalty,

she's told, "Do it again and you're going to get smacked,"

and even more expensive this time - 100 quid.

-It'd be £100, yeah.

-And then she's got no excuse in the world.

-No, no.

OK, but when you knock on that door, if she hasn't got

a good excuse or her attitude stinks, you know, you'll what?

-You'll issue a fine, penalty?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-And do you know what?

Everybody who's decent would respect that,

because bought experience is the best experience.

Hopefully, that'll stop her.

'So the ball's very much in this lady's court.

'It's either a warning or a hefty £100 fine.

'Which way is it going to go?

'Good start - someone's in.'

Hiya. Cardiff Council Waste Enforcement.

-It's just about some bags I found on the road there.

-Yeah.

'And Steph is cutting straight to the chase.'

It's just a few things.

The recycling bags contain nappies, and they can't be recycled...

So, before we go too far, let's take a look at the evidence.

Unsorted waste, including human excrement.

And proof of address tying the rubbish to this property.

A £100 fine could be on the cards. What will it be?

If you continue to put the nappies in there, they won't get

collected and you could be issued with a fixed penalty.

-All right? Thanks for your time.

-Thank you.

-Cheers. Ta-ra.

There it is. I think the nappies might have swung it in her favour.

Steph has cut this young mum some slack. It's just a caution.

Although the lady didn't want to be filmed,

she did invite me in for a quick chat.

-I've just started to use the food-waste bin yesterday.

-All right.

-Why only yesterday?

-Because I seen my bins ripped open

and I thought, "Ohhh...!"

-By the foxes and the animals?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Cos they've been there for literally a week.

No-one's getting into it again.

Right.

-And when she comes back again next time, it's not going to happen?

-No.

No. OK. I think it's been your lucky day there. So, OK.

Cheerio, lovely. Bye-bye.

I tell you what, I think that lady has got off very, very lightly.

Her circumstances in there - I've got to be honest,

I felt a little bit sorry for her.

She's a single mum, she's got her hands full with a baby,

and I could just tell she hasn't got the money. She admitted that.

She's going to struggle.

If she'd got an £80 fine, that would've hurt her quite a lot.

I'd like to think I don't think she'll do it again. All right...

'Steph was clearly giving her the benefit of the doubt,

'so no fine this time.'

Tell you what, that's a lot nicer-looking now, isn't it?

Job well done, Steph.

Anyway, you know what I said about giving her the benefit of the doubt?

A couple of weeks later, and it's time for a spot check.

And lo and behold, another bag.

Well, we have...

..a bit of a cooker. Food waste.

Hold your horses. I don't believe it.

It's the actual letter that Steph gave her...

hidden in the actual litter.

So, I put her under notice on the 26th, since 26th May,

and here it is in the bin

and she's put her waste out incorrectly again,

so she obviously doesn't care.

So the warning didn't work.

I think there's only one option here. What do you think, Steph?

Erm, so she'll be getting a £100 fixed penalty now.

Well, there's no second chance, and it's a £100 on-the-spot fine.

Next, we're in Wiltshire.

Beautiful, isn't it?

But commit a motoring offence somewhere on its busy roads,

and the chances are you could be hit with an on-the-spot fine by

traffic cop Jay Clifton.

I'm going to head up onto the M4 motorway to start our day,

to see what we can find.

Jay has lots of fancy tech in his car to catch offenders.

Just look at it!

But some offences are so blatant they're pretty hard to miss.

I've just seen this vehicle come down a one-way street

in completely the opposite direction,

ahead of oncoming traffic.

So we're going to get him to go into the estate here and

we're going to deal with it,

because that is totally unacceptable and exceptionally dangerous.

Driving the wrong way down a one-way street?

Now, I'm no expert,

but that could be much more than an on-the-spot fine.

Based on that, I could, if I wanted to,

put this person in front of a court.

But let's see what they have to say, in the first instance...

..and go from there.

Jay has ordered the driver off the road,

which is probably a good thing.

But while the vehicle has stopped,

the driver's erratic behaviour hasn't.

I've got a feeling there could be a fine on its way.

Do you live locally, do you? So you know the roads exceptionally well.

It's a one-way street!

The driver claims to have panicked when she saw the flashing light,

but she was driving dodgily way before Jay put his blues on.

You'd have been panicking a lot more if something had hit you head on.

Do you have your licence with you?

But hang on a minute, could Jay be onto something?

Have you had anything to drink today at all?

Jay needs to find out what might be behind this woman's dodgy driving

and whether she could be looking at worse than a fine.

She hit my car.

Uh-oh, maybe he's right.

-Yeah, look.

-Oh, you have hit her car.

-She's hit my car.

This woman's day is getting worse by the minute.

Turns out she's driven into another parked car - and one owned by

an off-duty colleague of Jay's.

I tell you what, let's straighten you up first

so we can let that young lady get away.

Did I mention there could be a fine on the way?

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

OK, you're going to have to go back and straighten up.

So don't turn your steering wheel. Keep it exactly as it is.

Open that window and you'll be able to hear me. Take it nice and steady.

Don't go back yet.

OK, nice and steady backwards, then.

Go on, then, keep going.

Don't turn the wheel yet.

Now turn it left all the way.

Now, you can't get a fine if you need help to reverse,

which is one bit of good news for this lady.

That's it, come out as you normally would now.

Nice and straight.

OK, you're back now. Keep coming back.

Yeah, keep coming back, keep nice and...

Straighten up that wheel, that's it. Now come back straight.

OK, you've got a parking space behind you.

Keep coming back, keep coming back. Keep coming back. That'll do.

Hold it there. OK. You park how you feel comfortable now.

She'll need more than scratch cover for that.

With the woman's vehicle now safe,

Jay can get on with his investigation.

OK, because you've been involved in a moving-traffic offence,

I'm going to do a quick breath test on you, which I'm empowered to do

under the Road Traffic Act of 1988.

When was the last time you had an alcoholic drink?

The lady claims to have had a single glass of white wine with her lunch.

OK, what I need you to do is get a good lungful of air for me,

make a good seal on the tube on the end.

-One nice long breath outwards until I tell you to stop.

-OK.

Don't hesitate as you blow.

Just like blowing up a balloon.

I'll hold the device. A nice big breath for me.

Go on, then. Blow.

Keep going, keep going, keep going. OK, hold on.

Right, you're blowing it a bit too hard. So...

HE BLOWS

A bit too hard. Off you go. Ready? Big lungful of air.

Blow. No, no, blow.

Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.

That's it, that's lovely.

OK, the legal limit's 35.

If this lady is over the limit,

this is far more serious than an on-the-spot fine.

She'll be arrested and taken into custody.

And you've just blown 54, which is a failure.

So on that, I'm arresting you on suspicion of driving

a motor vehicle whilst over the prescribed limited.

So it's not an on-the-spot fine, but a trip down to the station.

The van that's just turned up,

they're going to take the driver away to the police station.

Once we're there, we'll do some more breath tests,

then we'll get an exact reading of where the alcohol levels are

and find out what we've got going on. OK?

The penalties for drink-driving can be severe.

Caught over the limit and you could face six months' imprisonment,

an unlimited fine and a driving ban of at least one year.

If she's over when we get back to the police station,

she is looking at disqualification.

This is kids' kicking-out time.

There'll be children on the way home from school crossing these roads.

The children are going to be looking in one direction on a one-way road,

And that'll be the direction that the cars are coming.

They're not going to be expecting a vehicle

coming in the opposite direction.

It's ridiculous.

The woman has been searched and taken to the nearest police station.

So I think it's time to examine the evidence.

Driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

Crashing into a parked car.

A positive breathalyser test at the scene.

It's not looking good.

If this driver tests positive at the station,

she will be in serious trouble.

Jay has the verdict.

Both specimens of breath were provided

and they were under the legal limit.

So in relations to the drink-drive aspect of it,

that's now done and dusted and out of the way.

So what I've then reverted to is I have to look at the original offence

of contravening a one-way system, which I've dealt with.

That's been dealt with by the way of a fixed-penalty notice,

so she now has a £50 fine, which she has 28 days in which to pay.

She won't be subject to the more serious potential penalties.

Instead, she's on the receiving end of

a £50 fine for neglect of traffic regulations.

The moment we explained that she was under the legal limit,

a massive outburst of emotion, floods of tears.

Someone's learnt a lesson in relation to having

a quick glass of wine with their lunch.

If you're going to have a drink, don't drive. End of.

In Pendle in Lancashire...

..it's high noon for litterlouts.

The key to success on litter patrol is just have...

..no compassion, no remorse.

Meet the no-nonsense sheriff of Litter Town...

They're all guilty. They're all going to do it.

..AKA Jonathan,

Pendle Borough Council's environmental crime officer.

I'm not looking for innocent people, I'm looking for guilty people.

The crime? Not keeping Pendle tidy.

The punishment? A £75 fine.

Anyone who puts their rubbish in the bin...

..that's because they've seen me and they don't want to get caught.

His target? Anyone.

There are no innocent people. They're all guilty.

As a Pendle Council environmental crimes officer,

Jonathan's job is to make sure that the locals aren't littering,

and if they are, issue them with a fine.

So it's time to saddle up and ride out.

The guy walking towards me now on my right shoulder

has got a cigarette in his hand.

We'll see what happens.

And Jonathan's off. You can run, but you can't hide.

Could this be his first on-the-spot fine?

The sheriff of Litter Town always gets his man.

He's gone. Gone.

Well, almost always.

The potential offender might have got away,

but you can see what Jonathan is up against.

You can see just stood here, look at the amount of cigarette ends.

Tissue, bits of rubbish. You know, it's just...

..cut through and just dump your rubbish.

Back in town, Jonathan spots another possible litterlout.

Will this be his first on-the-spot fine of the day?

Hello, mate.

He thinks this guy might've dumped his coffee cup.

-I'm from Pendle Borough Council.

-Yeah?

I'm an environmental crime officer. What's that you just put over there?

It weren't mine. I just put my hand on to go past.

Right, just come here.

-It were there already.

-There already?

-Yeah...

I've just come round the corner and just seen you put it there.

I put my arm down to get my breath back.

-Let me just explain something to you, all right?

-Yeah.

-If you pick up litter...

-Yeah?

..and you then throw it on the floor or you put it down again...

-Yeah?

-..that's now your litter.

So, is this going to be a fine?

Well, I can't verify that I saw you drinking it, and I can't say that

I saw you put it down, but I'm going to give you a bit of advice now.

-Yeah?

-If you see something and you think it's litter...

-Yeah?

..please don't touch it, because as soon as you touch it,

-that is now your responsibility.

-Yeah.

-All right?

-Yeah.

-Does that make sense to you?

-Yeah, yeah.

-All right, sir.

I didn't see him walking with it... to do this, and then go,

"Thanks very much."

I seen him put his hand on it, to go like this,

so whether it's his or whether it's not, I don't know.

Er...isn't that YOUR cup now, Jonathan?

I've touched it, so I'm going to have to put it in the bin.

For Jonathan, it's more than a job.

I try to switch off on my days off,

but if I see someone dropping a cigarette,

I just go, "Agh!" You know, I...

I just want to do something about it.

Even if I'm not in Pendle, I just see someone having a cigarette

and they throw it out the car window or something,

I'm just "Eugh! Why?!" You know.

"Why the hell are you doing this? What's wrong with you?

"Have a little bit of pride in the town you live in."

No-one is safe from this eagle-eyed litter cop.

I can't pick and choose who I want to stop.

I've got to see it, I've got to deal with them, and,

if she's an old lady who is, you know...

..just struggling to walk or she's... If it's a guy

who can just clearly pick me up and throw me across the room,

I've got to stop him - I can't pick and choose.

So far, it's been a quiet day on the fines front.

But as the afternoon wears on,

it's a young mum with a cigarette who appears on Jonathan's radar.

This has got potential fine written all over it!

Right, so we look for the telltale signs. One, two...

There we go. Thrown.

The moment she walks away, and makes that conscious decision

to leave the litter on the floor, that's when I do my job.

She's off!

And so is Jonathan.

Hiya, love. Can I have a quick word with you, please?

I'm from Pendle Borough Council.

Just while you were waiting for your friend,

you had a cigarette in your hand, OK? You threw it behind you.

OK, that's the offence of littering.

And the case for the prosecution?

Fag...thrown.

Smoker...then walks away.

That's your cue, Jonathan.

So, what's it going to be? A fine? A warning?

Or will this one wriggle off the hook?

Now you've walked away, you've shown me

you've got no intention of picking up the litter.

That's why I want to take some details.

The council will write to you, OK?

It's going to be a letter from the council.

That means a £75 fine could be in the pipeline.

OK, you may receive a fixed penalty notice. You may receive a caution.

OK? It's not up to me. It's up to the council, OK?

There are metal bins around here, OK?

But I don't need to educate you on that. OK.

Thank you, bye-bye.

It's not cos I don't like mums, it's just because she littered!

You know, she just threw her litter on the floor.

But in Wiltshire, if you're caught speeding...

Slow down!

..there's a good chance you could be on the end of at least

a speeding fine, thanks to Wiltshire Police's Warren Knight.

It's a rainy evening at the start of the late shift

and I'm riding shotgun with Warren

to see just what motoring madness these conditions throw up.

Warren's pretty sure there is a fine or two out there, somewhere.

Oh, crikey, he's racing, isn't he? 'And it doesn't take long.'

We're up to 101mph now.

You don't need a camera to see he's travelling way too fast.

Er, weather conditions are poor.

102mph.

-Ouch!

-Back down to 100. See if he reacts to the vehicle in front.

Completely inappropriate for the, er...

Right, we're back down to under 100mph.

I'll pull this vehicle over,

because obviously travelling way, way too fast.

And the blue lights go on.

Clocked at over a ton, this guy could be looking at

not just a fine but maybe even a driving ban.

Right, he's clocked you.

-That was stupid for these sort of conditions.

-Absolutely ridiculous!

It's wet, slippery. He's doing over 100mph.

I've got a feeling there could be a fine on its way.

That was very foolish, wasn't it? Very foolish.

Um, I'll get you in the back of the car.

Have you had anything to drink today? Anything at all?

-Do you have any points on your licence?

-No.

-No?

-That might be about to change.

-Have a sit in the back of my car.

This side, this side! Cos you might get knocked over.

Hello, sir. Um, I must tell you that you don't have to say anything,

but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned,

something you rely on in court and anything you do say may be given in evidence.

Well, Warren's giving him a caution, but what next?

Could this be too serious for just an on-the-spot fine?

Um, is there any reason why you were

doing nearly 100mph down the motorway in quite bad weather?

Traffic? There wasn't any traffic in front of us.

-You can see the road is wet, can't you?

-Yes.

What's going to happen if, all of a sudden, somebody pulls out on you

and you have to try and react to it at nearly 100mph?

Potentially risking your life and potentially somebody else's life.

It's not looking good for this driver. It's a serious offence.

But what was his excuse?

Why are you going so fast?

I've been driving from, um, Bognor. I've been working at the weekends.

-Yeah?

-I was just trying to get home to Bristol.

I really should have pulled over, had a coffee, yeah.

I don't think tiredness was the right answer.

Driving tired, that's not a good combination, you know.

You're lucky your speed dropped a little bit,

just under the 100mph mark, because, at some point, you were

touching 100mph and, usually, that would result in a disqualification.

So his speed dropped a bit, but was it enough to avoid court?

-You just need to slow down.

-I do, but...

-Yeah?

-The minute you said

I was doing 100, you know, there's no defence against that.

It's... It's idiotic.

-Do you need your car for work?

-Yes, I do.

-So, really, you know...

This chap needs his car for work.

If he loses his licence, his job could be at risk.

-Had you had any alcohol today?

-No, nothing.

-When was the last time you had an alcoholic drink?

-Um...

Well, early hours of this morning, probably about one o'clock.

OK, all right. I will give you a breath test...

-OK.

-..which I'm empowered to do under the Road Traffic Act,

cos you've committed a moving road traffic offence.

BEEPING

-Magic.

-If this breath test is positive,

his already-bad situation is going to get a whole lot worse.

OK, I analysed your breath. That's zero. OK, that's good.

Zero! At least that's something.

If you take the end off, cos that's got your DNA on it.

We're not allowed to keep it.

The combination of your bad driving, cos it IS bad, really... You know,

that sort of speed and tiredness

potentially could end only in one way - you having a crash.

-Have you got family? Kids?

-Yes.

You know, it's a horrible conversation I have to have

with families about, you know...

It's time to take a look at the facts.

Over 100mph, but only for a brief moment.

Terrible road conditions.

And a negative breath test.

What's it going to be?

Fine?

Court?

Or a telling-off?

But what I intend to do is issue you a fixed penalty ticket, OK?

All right? Which will be three points and a £100 fine.

There it is - a fixed-penalty notice!

But that still means three points on his licence and a £100 fine.

-Do you have any questions?

-No.

As I said, please, for your own sanity more than anything else...

-Yeah?

-..and to stop me having to go to collisions where people die,

-just ease off the speed. Yeah? Is that all right?

-Yeah.

That's all for today. Join me next time and I'll be out

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