Episode 6 Dom on the Spot

'Never before have so many on-the-spot fines

'been issued in Britain.

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

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

Oops.

Round here, they are an absolute blight.

-I'm up to 104 now.

-Wow!

That is disgusting.

Just walk away.

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

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

'..simply selfish...'

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

How'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.

-Do you want to see me kick off?

'The police are on it...'

-What the...?

-Sir!

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

They should be thanking us for being here.

'..and I'm on it.'

Careful, it's a 30mph limit here!

'I'm Dom Littlewood,

'and I'm on the spot.

'This time, I'm on the spot...'

That was a bit stupid of him, wasn't it?

'..spotting the speeders.'

What must be going through his mind right now? "Oops."

'Just who is going to pay the penalty in Lancashire?'

He had a sheet over his head and he emptied the bin there.

Have you ever driven over the speed limit,

forgot to MOT your car or not bothered with your seatbelt?

You might think it's harmless,

but they're all criminal offences and if you don't play by the rules,

the police can hit you with a hefty fine, or more.

I'm riding shotgun with Sergeant Warren Knight.

The weekend is nearly over, and for traffic cops that means one thing...

..dangerous drivers.

So, Warren, a slightly wet Sunday afternoon in Wiltshire.

A damp one, yeah. A damp start which is typically not what was forecast.

What's it now? So, it's 3.40 now,

we're on with you most of the night, what are you likely to expect?

The plan for tonight is to go up and join colleagues on the motorway.

We usually find the M4,

because there are people going back towards London,

it gets quite busy,

and we usually have quite a lot of late-evening collisions.

But also, as the traffic thins out,

we then get the people that have left it quite late

and they'll start increasing their speeds.

Would it be fair to say that the majority of the RTCs

that you see now would be as a result of people speeding?

They're not all for speeding.

A lot of inattention is the main cause, I would say.

A combination of inattention,

inappropriate speed or inappropriate driving.

So that could mean that they're distracted by mobile phones,

they're distracted by talking.

I think people's lives are so busy now,

they're such in a rush that they just don't think ahead,

they're just thinking about, "I've got to get home,

"I've got to get the kids to bed,"

or, "I've got to get ready for work,"

so they're not focusing on the job in hand, which is driving.

You must see some horrific things.

I've been a traffic sergeant for ten years and

I've seen a multitude of people that have died

as a result of road traffic collisions.

Do any of those scenes or sounds you might hear, anything at all,

-does that haunt you afterwards...

-Erm...

-..or are you able to

distance yourself from that?

They do for a while and you just hope, in time, that your mind

can process it in the right way.

It's the job of these guys to try

and eliminate road traffic collisions.

One way to focus drivers on the rules of the road

is an on-the-spot fine.

We haven't even made it onto the motorway

before getting caught up in a dangerous manoeuvre.

I can understand their frustrations but that is partly some of our job.

We are catching, erm...

-Just got to deal with this.

-Yep.

The driver in front has just overtaken us at an excessive speed.

He's going to regret that,

especially if he ends up with a £100 on-the-spot fine.

-That was a bit stupid of him, wasn't it?

-Well, the road's clear,

it's just a question of his speed

and whether his speed is appropriate.

We're in a 60 limit. Whilst he's overtaken,

he hasn't eased off.

The speed's now 73mph

and we'll just monitor his speed as we go round the bend.

It's a question of whether he does reduce his speed or he carries on

and that allows me to gauge how I might deal with it.

Unfortunately for this bloke, he's still breaking the speed limit.

The gap between us hasn't really changed

and we're still doing 70mph in a 60.

What's your instincts right now, what are you thinking?

I think we'll have a word with him.

-Well, he's got no chance of overtaking that...

-No.

He's going to be stuck now. So he hasn't really achieved a lot,

because he's been stuck behind that car.

But we'll get the driver and just have a quick chat with him.

SIREN WAILS

I reckon the penny must have dropped by now.

What must be going through his mind right now? "Oops."

He's probably thinking, "Am I going to get a fine for this?"

-Hiya.

-Afternoon.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

-Do you know why I've stopped you?

-Speeding, I'm guessing.

Yeah, it is speeding.

'This is pretty serious - there are kids in the back.'

Do have any points on your licence at the moment?

-I don't think so, I can't remember.

-Do you have your licence on you?

-Lovely. Cor, your licence has seen better days, hasn't it?

-Yeah.

All right, I'll just do some checks. Sit tight.

'Sergeant Knight needs to check to see if there are

'any other issues with this vehicle.

'If so, the driver could be in line for more than one fine.'

-What's your name?

-Tom.

Tom. OK, you obviously didn't realise you overtook us.

Yeah, I realised it as soon as he put his lights on.

Yeah. What did you think when that happened?

I thought, "Not again."

Not again?!

I got stopped along this road about ten years ago.

-Right.

-By a very similar grey BMW.

-Yeah.

Oscar 074, if you could do me the vehicle check first

and then the DL.

They say lightning doesn't strike twice,

but I'd say it has for this fella -

caught speeding AND whilst overtaking an unmarked police car.

But is he going to get an on-the-spot fine?

He could be facing £100 and three points.

It's the moment of truth.

So, what will it be?

All right.

Right, just ease off your speed, all right?

-I apologise, I know.

-It's...you know...

-It was overtaking...

-I know,

you were frustrated by the line of traffic.

Yeah...

In your defence, at least you didn't accelerate any more

because I think if you had,

you and me would be having a different conversation, all right?

-Just think about your kids and that.

-Yeah, I know, the children...

Yeah, but, you know, try and enjoy the rest of the day.

-All right?

-Thank you very much.

-OK, good day to you.

-That's very kind.

It's a slap on the wrists this time, no fine for this driver.

-He's let you off with a verbal warning, hasn't he?

-Yeah.

Which I think is very nice of him. You're obviously relieved?

I'm extremely relieved, yeah.

-Honest truth - will it change your driving?

-Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. I think it's probably worth saying, isn't it, you know?

-Especially as you've got two young kids in the back.

-Yeah.

-It's foolish.

-Yeah, you know it, you said it yourself, didn't you?

-Absolutely.

-Well, I'm really, really pleased that you didn't end up

getting a ticket because it would've been painful

and, you know, a nasty Sunday for you, wouldn't it?

-Yeah, I'm very pleased myself.

-Tom, take care.

-Thank you, Dominic.

-Thanks.

Warren, can I ask why you took the decision then

not to issue a penalty notice?

That's the good thing about doing the job we do,

that we can use common sense.

-Yes.

-The chap hasn't accelerated away, he's shown some restraint,

so he's done his overtake and he's been sensible.

I think that is the balance for me.

-It's not about just giving tickets out.

-Yeah.

Because it's important that people understand the risks and, yes,

he's gone away with a positive attitude, he's gone away thinking...

And his kids have also gone away with a positive attitude.

-They haven't seen Daddy get a ticket.

-Yeah.

I'm a dad myself and, you know, he's had a good day with his kids.

-Yeah.

-He doesn't want a police officer spoiling it

by giving him three points and a £100 fine.

I tell you what, he wants to go and buy himself a lottery ticket now,

cos it's his lucky day, doesn't he?

I would, I'd go and have a lucky dip right now.

In Pendle, Lancashire,

Lesley Brooks is an environmental crime officer

with the local council.

Her job is to investigate crimes like fly-tipping and littering,

and hand out on-the-spot fines to the culprits.

She's had a report from a concerned resident.

We're going to an area in Nelson

where there's a problem with waste in the back streets.

I don't really know much about it.

I've seen a photograph, it looks a mess,

so we'll just see what it is when we get there.

It looks like someone's just emptied their recycle bin.

The bin vandal has created an eyesore

and with rotting rubbish on the street,

the vermin won't be far behind.

It's up to Lesley to track down the culprit

and whoever it is could face a £400 fine.

It could well have all been in that bin

and someone else has taken it out.

Because the bags aren't sealed, we can't...

Whatever rubbish is here, we wouldn't be able to implicate them

in regard to fly-tipping because we don't know where it's come from.

I mean, if it comes from this property,

they might have put the bags out,

obviously they've put incorrect waste in that bin,

because that's a recycle bin, as opposed to a proper bin.

So I'm going to look where it's come from anyway.

I'm presuming it's come from here

and I'm going to give them a knock and ask them what's gone on.

It's a bit of a mystery to Lesley, but a neighbour might be able

to shed some light on who could be responsible.

-He had a sheet over his head and he emptied the bin there...

-Right, OK.

-..went through everything, took what he wanted...

-Right.

..then moved down a street.

When he got to the few bins down there,

he started emptying the bins down there.

Right, thank you very much. Thank you.

The sheet is down there, what he said, so maybe his story is true.

I'm still going to knock on the door.

The plot thickens.

But however the mess was created,

Lesley needs to make sure that it gets cleaned up.

She's going to have a word with the resident of the house

the bin belongs to.

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

All through your back alley, have you seen...?

No, you go... I'll see you at the other side.

All right, thank you.

I'm a bit... I don't know whether we've already got issues with her

because if you look at the front garden, I didn't want to be...

We might already be trying to get it a 215 because there's bin bags

and mattresses in the front garden so...

I'll just speak to her about this round the back.

A section 215 order can be used by the council to make untidy residents

clean up their mess or face a £1,000 fine.

But at the moment, Lesley is more concerned

about the rubbish round the back.

It was bin day yesterday, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-The rubbish obviously is your rubbish.

Erm...

When did you put your bin bags out?

It turns out the bin tipper isn't the only one at fault here.

Sunday, right. But it's bin day on Tuesday.

I'm led to believe that some homeless guy has come here

with a sheet over his head and gone through all your rubbish,

hence this mess.

But what's caused that is the fact you've put your bins out too early.

If you'd put your bins out on the correct day

in the correct receptacle, then this would've been avoided.

But you need to recycle as well. If that's your recycle bin...

See, the stuff that's in there is not all recycling either.

So you're going to have to sort that out, all right?

So let's take a look at the facts of this case.

An overturned bin in the back alley,

a mystery hooded homeless person

and unsorted rubbish put out on the wrong day.

Is it going to be a fine and, if so, for who?

The stuff here, some of it's recycling and it should be in there.

You need to split it or you're going to end up fined for not doing that.

It's no fine.

Lesley is giving this woman a chance to sort out the mess.

The mystery homeless guy gets another chance, too.

I know you're not responsible for this mess because I have a witness

who's just told me about this guy in a sheet

rifling through your rubbish,

but if you'd put your bins out on the correct day,

in the correct receptacle, then this would've been avoided.

Erm, you're going to have...

You're going to have to, er, clear it up,

get some bin bags and get this mess cleared up, and put it back out.

It's going to be a fortnight.

All right? It will be double checked.

You could end up with an order on you. Right, OK.

Thank you. Thanks, bye.

It seems this resident has got her work cut out.

She'll now need to clean up this mess.

If she doesn't, the council will do it for her and send her the bill.

Now, I don't know about you,

but round my way there are lots of different parking rules.

Single yellows, double yellows, loading, no loading,

you can't park here but you can park here,

but only when there's an R in the month.

It's all very confusing.

So I'm in Havering on the spot

with parking enforcement officer Kam

for a masterclass in parking regulation basics.

To combat the illegal parking,

the council gave out 40,000 penalty notices last year.

I really, really hope that is not a zigzag.

Ridiculous, look at that.

You're on the footway, boss. You're not allowed to be there.

-I'm moving.

-Thank you.

And after two years on the beat,

Kam has given out her fair share of fines of up to £130 a pop

and that doesn't make her very popular round here.

In your job, you're never, ever going to have anybody to say to you,

"Thanks for doing a good job.

"You're keeping the streets safe and parking well..."

-No-one's ever going to say...

-It's very rare.

-How rare?

It does happen, I'm not going to say that it's never happened.

It has happened but in six years, I reckon, maybe five or six times.

Once a year, it comes like Christmas and it goes like Christmas as well!

-In and out, gone.

-That's when people compliment you?

-Yeah.

-So...

-It will normally be after we've sort of...

-responded to a complaint for a dropped kerb...

-Yeah.

..or a resident opposite a school, but it will come where we're needed.

It's not long before Kam spots her first offender.

-That one's staring you in the face, isn't it?

-Yeah...

'There's a delivery lorry banged to rights on double yellow lines.'

So many people think that putting your hazards on

means you can give them a ticket, doesn't it?

Yeah. No, that doesn't help, it really doesn't.

Let's see. No, the driver's gone as well.

Nowhere to be seen.

So a lorry parked on double yellow lines

directly in front of a "no loading" sign.

Not sure those hazard lights are going to get him out of a fine.

And just as Kam's about to issue a ticket...

Is that you?

Boss, you can't park there. Come on, you know that.

Right.

So what happens now?

'An on-the-spot fine of £130 could be on its way.'

Now he says he's just waiting to open the door.

Sir, you can't wait here.

Are you not able to just go into the loading bay and then wait there?

So it's his lucky day now, is it? He doesn't get a ticket?

Yes, very lucky day.

The driver escapes without a fine.

That's exactly what the kerb marks and everything mean.

No waiting, no loading.

He's about a metre away from them...from the sign as well so...

When they say, "I'm just loading or I'm just waiting,"

but that's exactly what you're not allowed to do here.

Well, in fairness, there are two loading bays

about 20 metres up there.

Yeah, so I can understand if there's really no other alternative.

'The first fine of the day has been narrowly avoided,

'all down to the compassion of Kam.

'Who said parking attendants couldn't be reasonable?

'But this next car might not be so lucky.

'It's parked on a single yellow line

'where parking is restricted between 8.30 and 6.30.

'And guess what? It's just turned 8.30.

'This could be an on-the-spot £130 fine.'

Where's the signs, then, that tells him...?

Whenever there's a yellow line, somewhere along the stretch...

If you see over there, that says,

-"Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 6.30pm."

-Ah, right, OK.

Having said that, every vehicle does get its ten minutes grace now.

-So if...

-If they've nipped to the lavvy,

-they've got half a chance of not getting a ticket?

-Yep, basically.

Let's hope they come back within ten minutes.

If this person's unlucky and gets a ticket in a minute,

-how much will it be?

-It will be 65, if it's paid within 14 days.

-130 if not.

-Yep.

-It's a lot of money, isn't it?

'So now we play the waiting game.'

I sort of feel like I want to shout out

or press a foghorn or something to warn the driver and say,

"Come and collect your car, you've got ten minutes."

Well, probably about eight now.

That's not going to make someone's day, is it?

'Tick tock, the clock is ticking.'

If the driver does manage to come back within the next ten minutes,

we'll be all right. Unfortunately...

-It's an awful lot of standing around.

-Yes.

-And walking.

-Yes.

Don't you fancy bringing a little Thermos flask along

and having a coffee and sitting down

-and dunking your biscuit in it?

-It's a lot to carry as well.

I mean, during a day of patrolling,

you can go through so many drinks and snacks,

painkillers in case I get a headache,

-you know, things like that.

-When you say get headaches,

-is that because people are having a go at you?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Definitely.

After a while, you do need to take a moment and think,

"Oh, my God, my head's hurting.

"I'm going to go and have a coffee and..."

There's someone coming down the street now.

-I wonder if this is the guy.

-It might be.

He seems to be twiddling with his phone.

-No.

-We get that a lot as well.

-How much longer have they got?

-Got another...about 30 seconds.

Right, and then that's it, bish, bash, bosh.

-Yep.

-Talk about the dosh.

SHE LAUGHS

'It's not looking good, the time is up.

'Surely this is an open-and-shut case.

'The car is parked up on a single yellow line,

'it's not displaying a blue badge,

'so there's no lawful reason for it to be there.

'Kam's given the driver ten minutes' grace

'but now they could be looking at a hefty fine of...

'you've guessed it, £130.'

Well, in fairness, they had ten minutes' grace.

Yeah, so if the driver does come back, they can't say,

"Oh, you've given me a ticket as soon as enforcement starts,"

because enforcement starts at half past eight,

we've obviously been here for ten minutes now so

I would be very annoyed if the driver came back

and gave me abuse and said, "I've only been here two minutes."

'Yep, it's a fine - a painful 130 smackers.'

-First one of the day, yeah?

-Yep.

'Now Kam's heading off to her next hot spot in the centre of town,

'where drivers have to pay and display.'

Romford High Street, not market day

cos they have market day here I think three times a week,

which means that this whole street normally would be full of stalls.

But now it's used as a car park.

So what Kam's doing, she's going round,

she's checking if people have bought a ticket.

If they haven't, they've got about ten minutes', or so, grace.

What she's doing now is, she's going round,

she's logging the cars that don't have tickets showing, walking round.

By the time they come back, if they haven't got one,

that's it, ticket time. It's all going quite well, actually.

So far we've been up and down the high street a couple of times

and not one ticket issued. A good day for the motorists.

A good day for Kam, really - less paperwork.

Are you all right there, mam?

OK.

This car's driver has left the car,

but claims her husband has gone to get a ticket.

If he doesn't come back with one in ten minutes,

she could be the proud recipient of a £130 fine.

-You've just put that vehicle under observation, yeah?

-Mm-hm.

Explain to me exactly what's going to happen now, then.

I'm going to go back and check whatever other vehicles

I've logged in this car park, because it is a big car park.

I think I've logged about five, six vehicles.

By the time we come back,

her observation will be up as well and then obviously if she's...

She'll either have bought a ticket or we'll move her on.

If neither happens, then we'll give her a ticket.

Kam checks out other vehicles while giving the woman her grace period.

But when Kam returns,

the women's husband is in the driving seat but still no ticket.

In fact, now he claims his wife has gone for the ticket.

Hey there, sir, do you have a ticket?

All right because...

I'm sure it's the same vehicle.

Yeah, I logged this vehicle 15 minutes ago, sir, and...

Right, she said that you were gone to get a ticket.

Can you not have a go at me?

I logged you 15 minutes ago and now you're back,

now you're back and now you're telling me she's getting the ticket.

-Could you go and get a ticket please, sir?

-OK.

-Yeah?

You've been here for 15 minutes and now you're having a go at me.

You just... You were about to have a go at me

until I made it very clear to you that you've already had 15 minutes.

It's 9.20 now.

You were logged at 9.05 and at that time, the lady who was sitting here

said to me that you had gone to get a ticket.

That is really annoying because he's tried having a go at me,

claiming that, "Yeah, I'm waiting for her to go and get a ticket."

But, I'm sorry, 15 minutes ago,

YOU were going to get the ticket and she was in the driver's seat.

So don't lie to me and don't raise your voice to me.

That is just disgusting.

It looks like this guy's pushing his luck.

Kam is within her rights to slap a £130 fine on his windscreen.

It's not looking good for him.

This driver has been sat in the car park

without a ticket for 15 minutes.

He claims his partner has gone to get change

but that story is rapidly wearing thin with Kam.

So will she give him an instant fine or let him off with a warning?

Right, can you go and get a ticket, sir?

Right, clearly there is no ticket process here.

They're not getting change because

he just told me she was going to get a ticket

and now he's just jumped out with a note saying I need to get change

and that's after 15 minutes of an observation.

I'm very tempted to just tell him...

-Give me a minute?

-No, I can't give you a minute.

You're either going to drive off or you're going to get a ticket, sir.

You've had about 17 minutes now.

'He's chosen to leave the car park.

'Another driver escapes a fine, but Kam's not happy.'

See, that has really annoyed me now.

Clearly, neither of them have any intention of buying a ticket.

So if that's really annoyed you and he's well over his stay,

why didn't you issue a ticket?

Because, erm...

A, it would've just escalated the situation.

If he had refused to move on,

then I would've given him a ticket straight away.

But, to be honest, like I said,

the ticket is supposed to be the last resort.

If I had given him a ticket,

it would've purely been because I've let my annoyance get to me.

We don't do the job personally.

Personally, I would've loved to have given him a ticket.

I think he deserved it...

because was just taking the mick.

After a morning on patrol,

Kam's hot under the collar and I'm hot on top.

One of the hazards of the job.

I don't want to end up going home looking like a Swan Vesta match.

-I've put too much on now, haven't I?

-Yeah, you have.

-Good Lord!

-Do you want some of this?

-No, not off the top of your head, no!

Oh. Nothing wrong with the top of my head.

'It's for your own good, Kam.

'If I burn my bonce, you'll never hear the end of it.'

In Wiltshire, traffic cop Jay Clifton is on patrol.

He's stationed on a raised police ramp on the side of the busy M4.

It's an observation platform,

so from here we can carry out speed checks,

I can look at vehicles, I can see the drivers.

So I can see if people are wearing their seatbelts,

I can see if the vehicle's...

or get an idea if a vehicle is overweight.

It's a good place to sit up and watch the world go by, really.

Today, he's on the lookout for speeding motorists.

If he catches any, he can issue them with a £100 on-the-spot fine

or even a court summons.

And it's not long before he spots what he's looking for.

That'll do. We'll have him.

So this driver was clocked at 97mph,

but maybe he's finally spotted the cop car in his rear-view mirror.

Slowed down a lot now.

What I'm going to do is take the vehicle off the motorway

and have a chat with the driver in relation to his speed.

Just get in front of him and use the "follow me".

Well, that got the driver's attention.

Could he be about to get a hefty fine?

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

I can see you were travelling faster than the other vehicles

on the carriageway and so I formulated the opinion

that you were travelling in excess of the 70mph speed limit

for the motorway. Inside here is a little red dot,

I put it on the front of your car, pulled the trigger,

lasers out at one end to the other,

at which point it tells me that -

that you were doing 97mph and that you were 502.6 metres away from me.

Is there any lawful reason you can give me

as to why you are travelling at the speed today?

He's in Exeter?

It's about 100 miles to Exeter!

That's a lot of miles at a dangerous speed.

Do you think you were going to drive all the way to Exeter at that speed?

It's a bit much, isn't it?

The problem is, I've never met you before.

I can't validate that story at the moment, can I?

-I can obviously make a few calls if I need to.

-It's the truth.

But if you've got to get to Exeter,

you want to get there and see your dad.

What you don't want to do is hit another car at that speed

-and end up killing somebody else.

-No, I agree with you.

Do you have your licence with you at all?

Take a seat there for me. I'm just going to shut these doors

so we can have a chat.

Let's take a look at Jay's options here.

The man was definitely speeding and, at 97mph,

Jay does have the option to issue the man with a court summons,

meaning he could lose his licence.

But he claims he was on the way to hospital in an emergency.

On this occasion, I'm probably going to take it in the ear for it...

His story checks out and Jay has decided

to give him the benefit of the doubt.

On this occasion, I'm going to let you go

and that's just me showing a bit of compassion,

but I need you to be honest with me and make sure you get there safely.

Do you understand that?

So there's no fine for this driver - just a firm warning.

Something tells me the rest of his journey will be at a sensible 70mph.

It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

Join us next time for Dom On The Spot.