Episode 7 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.

-Around here, they are an absolute blight.

I'm at 104 now.

-Wow.

-That is disgusting.

-Just walk away.

-Grrr.

'..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 this street!

How is that our fault?

'..or just, well...' What is he doing?

'..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.

Today, we're in stealth mode on the motorway as we pursue motorists risking a fine.

95mph now.

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

-Do you know why I stopped you?

-Speeding.

-Yeah.

'We meet a farmer who's digging himself into a hole.'

You say you've cleared it up.

Yeah. Dug a hole and buried it, yeah.

'And will it be a fine or a close shave for this driver?'

Adrian, I've got more on my head than you've got on your tyre.

Drivers beware. Traffic cop PC Shelley Holloway is on the case.

I think he just dropped it, under his shoulder.

We're on speed patrol in Gloucestershire and I'm along for the ride.

This morning we're on the M5.

We're in an unmarked car today,

which I think is going to make quite a difference to what happens.

'If you're caught speeding,

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

'points on your licence or even a driving ban.'

There's a Jaguar just about to overtake us, we'll try him.

'This speed demon has no idea he's being tailed.'

-What's he doing at the moment?

-It's 89.

Just do another one.

He appears to have picked up speed so we're running it again.

'His speed is rising well over the 70mph limit and he still doesn't know he's being clocked.'

95mph now.

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

Well, not really, given that we're doing over 90 ourselves.

We're having to put the lights on at the back to stop people overtaking us.

'A £100 fine might stop this speeder in his tracks.'

This is obviously an endorsable offence

but I suppose it's in his favour that he's keeping it below 100,

because that would be a lot more serious, wouldn't it?

Yeah, certainly. Anything over 100mph is...

We're unable to give a traffic-offence report for it,

he would have to be reported for summons to court.

'This driver may have just narrowly avoided a court summons but he's

'highly unlikely to get off scot-free.'

Do you know why we've stopped you?

You were travelling in excess of the speed limit.

The speed limit is...

'The driver confirms they are well aware that

'the speed limit on the motorway is 70mph.'

We did three speed checks on you.

The first one was 89, the second was 95 and the third was 92mph,

average, over a set distance.

So it is unacceptable, unfortunately, to travel that fast.

'Is PC Holloway about to pull out the penalty notice book?'

Have you got points on your licence?

'The driver confirms that she already has six points on her licence,

'for speeding.

'Oh, dear. That's not a good start.

'The driver is asked to come and sit in the back of the police car for

'further questioning but she's not happy.'

There is nowhere to go. I'm not...

No, there isn't, we've just passed it.

OK? No.

'The driver says she doesn't feel safe being on the hard shoulder.

'Reluctantly, she makes her way to the police car.

'Now I'm in a safe position on the hard shoulder,

'let's see what's going on.'

Now, Shelley has asked the motorist if she would step into her car,

one, for safety, and also it's going to be a lot quieter for her,

she's got all of her documentation in there.

She's going to explain to her now what's happened about the fact

that she's been followed for quite a few miles, and discuss her speed.

There's also evidence on video, which if the woman is going to dispute anything,

she can have a chance to have a look at it,

which will hopefully free up the courts if anybody wants to argue their point.

As to what happens after them, that's at Shelley's discretion,

whether the woman gets a ticket or not I don't know.

I suspect probably so, because she was doing in excess of 90 for quite a while.

I'll just check your driving-licence status.

'But she's still complaining. Is this going to take a nasty turn?'

If you weren't speeding, we wouldn't have had to stop you.

I've heard your point but let's get on with this

and then we don't have to spend too long on the hard shoulder.

Standing on the hard shoulder, we all know, is very, very dangerous.

Now, that woman in the car at the moment is saying to Shelley

she's worried about her own safety

from getting out from her car into this car

but the irony of that is, if she wasn't doing 90-plus miles per hour

down the motorway, she wouldn't have had to.

Oli?

Can you grab the lady's handbag out of the car, please?

-She needs her phone...

-Yes.

There's no insurance showing on the database.

'If the driver isn't insured,

'her car will be seized and she will be handed a £300 fine.

'This isn't looking promising at all.

'The speedy motorist was going well over the limit on the motorway.

'She's already got six points on her licence

'and now it seems she might not be insured.'

But if we look at this and how it could go,

you might have had a woman there doing 95mph in the outside lane,

quite close to motorists in front...

-Yeah, yeah.

-Potentially with no insurance.

-Potentially without insurance as well. You know...

-That's pretty naughty.

-It is very naughty, it is very naughty.

And in fact, whilst I've been stood there watching other traffic go by,

there's people committing offences left, right and centre.

People on their phones, speeding,

you can see the brake lights go on, so, yeah,

I think there's always more work than we can cope with,

-put it that way, so...

-Yeah, definitely.

Because it's such a huge company

they don't actually have to be put on there,

so it's unfortunate but I would just advise her to ask her boss for documents in the vehicle

-to prove that she's part of the company...

-Yeah.

'So it turns out the driver is insured through a company policy.'

OK, that's great. Thanks ever so much.

'But how is PC Holloway going to deal with the speeding offence?'

So, you've got six points on your licence currently.

Have they all been on the motorway? No, clearly not.

SP30 isn't the motorway, so you are quite close now to losing your licence.

'Could the driver be looking at a £100 fine and three points

'or even a driving ban?'

OK, so you've just been reported for one speeding offence.

I'll let you get on your way now.

'It's a £100 fine...

'..and three more points on her licence.'

Fly-tipping, or illegally dumping your rubbish,

is a pretty disgusting thing to do.

But it doesn't just affect the appearance of an area,

it can also be downright dangerous.

It can encourage vermin, spread disease

and be an added danger to your children.

But anybody who illegally dumps their rubbish can face a hefty fine,

criminal record and, in some cases, prison.

But fly-tipping doesn't just affect urban areas.

Because amongst Lancashire's delightful rolling hills

there's a blot on the landscape.

Scrap and litter dumped.

Did you have nightmares about that rat last night?

I did a bit, yeah.

Jon is an enforcement officer with Pendle Borough Council.

He's joined today by his colleague Matty and they're heading out

into the Lancashire countryside to follow up a lead.

They've stumbled across a massive illegal dump.

Whoever's been fly-tipping here has been doing it for a long time.

This case is so extreme,

Jon's called out his boss David to see it for himself.

It's all of it, the whole lot, the whole mound.

And all this waste isn't just making the place look untidy.

If it's eaten by animals it can sadly have fatal consequences.

Here's your carcass in here.

There's the wool.

And there's the ribcage.

It's a bit like Silence Of The Lambs, isn't it?

It's like that guy who goes out and skins all them people, he just can't stop.

It'll just be a matter of having a look through and

see if we can find any evidence.

It's frustrating because it's building waste

so it's very unlikely to find anything, and that's why they do it.

It's an eerie crime scene

but super-sleuth Jon is determined to find a way

to bring the offender to justice.

This is serious stuff,

as whoever's responsible for the fly-tipping

could be facing that massive fine of up to £50,000.

Hang on, what's this?

-David...

-It's an invoice, isn't it?

-To make a payment by direct debit.

It's a calling card by the looks of things.

At last, the team may have a lead.

A name and address pulled from the rubbish might be that of the offender.

It could be an innocent party but this is what we've got to find out.

It'll be done through council-tax checks,

who's living at the property at the moment, who owns the property,

have they had any work done on it, so, yeah,

there's still quite a bit of digging to be done.

The next step for David is to find the farmer who owns the land

and see if he's aware of the problem.

If it turns out the farmer has allowed fly-tippers to dump on his land,

he could be facing some hefty fines too.

Hello, Mr Parker?

-Yes, yes.

-Good morning.

-Good morning, yeah.

-We need to have a chat with you.

-Right.

-A few days ago, we were up on Cobb Lane.

-Oh, yeah.

-It looks as though somebody's coming in to the field and fly-tipping or...

-That's what...

They come in at the top...

-Yeah.

-That's what they were doing, yeah.

-Do you know who that person...

-I don't know who it is, no.

-You don't know? And they've not been doing it with your permission or anything?

-No, no.

-Right.

But you say you cleared it up.

-Yeah.

-So where have you taken the stuff to?

Right, yeah. We've buried it, dug a hole and buried it, yeah.

-Righty-ho.

-Is that OK?

You can't be doing that on your land.

-Right, right.

-You've got to either have a permit to use your land for tipping...

-Right.

-..otherwise you'll get in trouble with the...

-I didn't know that.

-..Environment Agency.

But we'll go up and see what you've done with it.

Yeah. I'll just...

David and Jon need to see this for themselves.

By doing that now, what he's done is contaminated that land,

because we don't actually know the full extent of the fly-tip that was there.

We've got to go and have a look to see exactly how good a job he's buried it.

-What's he done? He's just...

-Yeah.

He's not really dug a hole, has he?

-He's just...

-No.

-..made it into a big mound.

He's just, like, compacted it.

It's not the thorough clean-up that David was hoping for.

The fly-tippers may be long gone but it's the farmer who's responsible for clearing up the mess.

A huge mound of hazardous waste has been sitting on his land for months.

Details of the suspected fly-tipper have been found amongst the rubble.

Even if the tippers can't be found,

the farmer needs to make sure the waste is removed.

If he doesn't, he could be looking at a hefty fine.

So, how will David deal with it?

Erm...

Yeah, it's not fully tidied up, is it?

-Not bad though, is it?

-Ooh...

No, it's not good enough to...

I mean, you've got a load of wrought-iron bedsprings...

Yeah, they want moving, I know.

This time, it's some friendly advice and a promise from the farmer to remove all the waste.

I mean, have you got a tractor with a...?

-A loader...

-..with a shovel on?

-Yes, yes.

Are you happy if we find out who has been tipping on your land?

-Right...

-..and prosecute them?

-Right, I see.

-Are you?

-Wow...

-HE LAUGHS

-Right, blooming heck.

-I can...

We've got someone to trace back to where the stuff has come from.

-Right.

-And we might find out who it is.

Who it is, right.

We will then see them but obviously because it's your land,

-it is not public land...

-Right.

-..I need your consent to say

that, erm, nobody had permission to dump anything on your land.

Right, right.

Would you be happy to give that statement?

Right, I see. Heck.

That's a...

-Well, I'll let you have a think about it.

-Yeah, that's right, yeah.

I've got your details. Erm...

because obviously, we've got to stop this

because otherwise it's just going to continue dumping.

-OK, thank you for your time...

-Yeah...

-..thank you for your time.

And I'll be in touch with you in a couple of days

-to let you know what's going on, then, OK?

-Yeah, that's all right.

-Right, thank you.

-Right.

Well, you've done nowt wrong, have you?

-No, well, no.

-All right, speak to you again.

He wasn't too happy about getting involved in giving statements or anything, so...

I don't know how... Even if we track who it is,

if we don't get his cooperation, we won't be able to prosecute.

So, they've hit a dead end.

Without the farmer's permission to pursue the tippers,

it looks like this case will be closed.

And in Havering, north-east London,

problem parking is worse now than ever before.

In the past 20 years,

the number of cars on the roads has ballooned by 10 million.

The parking space hasn't.

Kam Paul is the CEO, Civil Enforcement Officer,

pitched against many machines.

Today, I just want the day to go peacefully.

A traffic warden on the front line.

I'll see how the day goes.

Kam's tooling up, armed to the teeth with tickets.

No day goes as expected.

And she's going to need them.

She can dish out fines of up to £130 a pop.

She's heading to a part of town that always keeps her busy.

We've had quite a few incidents there,

so when I found out yesterday that I was going to be coming here,

I wasn't really looking forward to it.

But it's...

it's a part of the job.

Working in one of the country's most unloved professions,

Kam will need to keep her wits about her today.

You do frequently get incidents

where you will go through severe abuse,

and you've got a few youths up the road, screaming, "Jobsworth".

Boo.

-Boo.

-Oh, just a "boo" then, yeah?

-OK.

-The heckling won't put Kam off the job.

Could this be her first fine of the day?

Expired at 13.34, it's now 13.50,

so they've had, they've had more than their, er...

grace time, we call it. They get ten minutes' grace.

So why is the owner of this car in the danger zone?

They're 15 minutes overtime.

She waited, but tick-tock, it's a fair cop.

But now the owner of the car is back and he's not happy.

Well, it's saying that it's expired at 13.34.

The driver claims the machine spat out the wrong ticket.

I'm not saying that what you're saying is false,

it could be that it's a machine error,

what you'd need to do is appeal the ticket now, because I've already issued it.

Once the fine is issued, there's no going back.

Unfortunately, we're not allowed to take any tickets back,

because then it can look at it like we're taking a bribe or something.

He will need to appeal the ticket

and obviously it will have to be investigated.

You're always a bit concerned about the driver coming back.

You'd rather not get into confrontation.

When you're giving a ticket,

you'd rather just get through the ticket and walk away,

rather than being confronted by the driver,

cos they're obviously not going to be happy about it.

OK, this driver wants to just ignore and not face me,

so I'm just going to log him and walk off.

With no ticket and nothing to say, he could face a £60 fine.

If he's still there...

in five minutes, we'll have him moved on.

Hang on, it seems Kam's finally caught the driver's eye.

Do you have a ticket, sir?

No, you need to get one, it's a pay-and-display.

He's still not going to get out.

So, I've logged him, anyway.

The silent driver is getting five minutes to either drive off,

or buy a ticket.

Their observation is up, I'm just going to take a picture,

so we can leave him to do what he wants to,

cos in five minutes, he's going to get a ticket regardless.

Obviously, he's in the car or not,

if he hasn't bought a ticket, he will be getting one.

But with Kam on the brink of issuing a ticket...

the driver decides to make a sharp exit. No fine...this time.

Every single pay-and-display here gives you a half-hour free ticket.

All you've got to do is key in your registration.

I don't understand why someone would not use that facility, it's free.

It's a free half-hour's parking.

It seems drivers just aren't reading the signs.

You'd be telling every driver individually

how to work the machines.

You do go through days

where you'll end up repeating yourself

millions of times throughout the day.

On the high street, there are more issues.

The driver's left a child in the vehicle.

It's a disabled bay, ma'am.

-Oh, just...

-It's a disabled bay.

It's not about "just", no parking in a disabled bay.

INDISTINCT

Right, ma'am, it's not about just,

you are in a disabled bay without a blue badge,

you're not allowed to be in this bay.

Even just. Yeah.

Thank you.

This lady is breaking the law.

Kam's snapped it, too.

Parking in a restricted bay with no ticket,

she could slap on a penalty charge notice of £60.

She doesn't have a blue badge,

she's pretty capable of parking anywhere else,

that bay is there for people who are unfortunate enough to not be able to

be as mobile and flexible as us so her saying, "Oh, I'm just..."

There's no "just" about it, that is just for disabled people.

Will Kam report the motorist, or is she feeling lenient?

Because there was a child in the car as well and she was right by the

vehicle, she didn't actually leave the vehicle and go in and start shopping,

she was just talking to someone outside

and she was very polite about it.

Had she been a bit abusive,

I probably would have, because I do have the picture,

the photographic evidence, but...

we don't want to do the job in a mean way.

So, lucky for that woman, no abuse equals no fine.

But it was oh-so-close.

Right, it's just gone nine o'clock in the morning and I'm going out on

motorway patrol with Jay, in his unmarked Beemer.

Let's see what today brings.

QJ1563...

I'm heading into the rural back roads in a stealth police car

with PC Jay Clifton.

It's an effective way to catch naughty motorists in the act.

Jay, this is the earliest in the morning I have been out with you guys.

What have we got in store today? What are we likely to expect?

We can expect absolutely anything.

Anything can happen. We're going to stay rural for a while.

People who try to avoid the police tend to take the back roads,

thinking that we only do major roads.

It's on these quieter B-roads that crooks and traffic offenders

often think they are safe from the long arm of the law.

But not today.

So what sort of things will people be trying to avoid?

So probably drink-driving, I'm assuming.

-Drink-driving.

-Yeah.

-No insurance.

Petty crime as well, if they commit petty crime and they want to get from

A to B, use the back roads.

Anyone caught by Jay is looking at a £100 on-the-spot fine.

So let's see if we can get alongside.

A motorist has been spotted on their mobile phone while driving.

But even when Jay turns on his lights,

the lady is so distracted by her phone,

she doesn't spot she's being pulled over.

Nearly a quarter of all road fatalities caused by distractions

involved mobile-phone use.

She's been caught in the act. She's still on her phone.

Jay is not happy.

HORN BEEPS

You, pull over.

Follow me.

Well, she was on that a long while, wasn't she?

-Yeah.

-All the way.

-I don't know if you noticed that she had an earpiece in.

-Yeah.

-She's going to say that she wasn't using a hand-held phone,

she was using a hands-free because her earpiece was in.

We could see that she had the phone in her hand...

-Yep.

-Therefore, she was...

-She was using the phone.

And I actually saw the thumb moving across the screen there as well.

So I think...

She may be on a bit of a sticky wicket on this one.

Do you want to come over here? OK, the reason I have stopped you is...

As I have come past you, you have got your mobile phone in your hand,

chatting away, your thumb is going across the screen.

It is an offence to drive a motor vehicle whilst using a hand-held mobile device.

In relation to that, you don't have to say anything

but it may harm your defence if you do not mention now something you later rely on in court

and anything you do say may be given in evidence.

Is there a lawful reason why you are using your phone?

The lady says that she's lost and was using the maps

on her phone to find her way to work.

Is that a good enough excuse or is she heading for an on-the-spot fine?

The lady has just told us that she'd rather not be on camera

and the reason for that is because what she has done will be rather

embarrassing for her in the job she's in,

and obviously we are not going to tell you what sort of job that is

in case people recognise her.

But for that reason,

even more so, don't use your phone when you're driving around!

So what are this driver's chances?

She was witnessed using a hand-held mobile phone behind the wheel.

But will Jay give her a £100 fine or let her off with a caution?

Jump in that side for me.

It's not looking hopeful.

Is Jay about to throw the book at her?

Points stay on your licence for four years,

but they are only valid for three.

It's a fine and a painful three penalty points on her licence.

Maybe that driver will think twice

before using a phone again behind the wheel.

What was that lady's defence?

That she was using her phone as a mapping system

and I think she was also using it as a mobile phone because we could see

the earpiece hanging out of the ear.

So really, I mean, as far as distraction is concerned,

that was like double bad, wasn't it?

Oh, massively. If she was chatting away and having an in-depth

conversation about where she is going

and also she is trying to use the mapping system

so she is not concentrating on the road,

her mind is elsewhere, it's a double whammy.

That's just asking for trouble.

Back on the road, Jay is setting up his secret weapon.

The stealth car is fitted with a clever bit of kit called an ANPR.

It scans car number plates and checks them against a police database.

That car has caught your attention. Why?

As it's come through, I've just done a quick check on it on my system

and it's showing that insurance is not being held on it,

so we're going to stop it and have a quick chat with the driver.

Oh, he's pulling off.

Might make it a bit easier for us.

If it turns out this guy has been driving without insurance,

he could be looking at a £300 fine and six points on his licence.

Do you want to step over here for me, fella?

The reason I have stopped you is you have come past,

my car has had a quick scan of your car...

-Yeah.

-It tells me that it hasn't got any insurance.

That's cool, that's not a problem.

I've just got a temporary car insurance.

-Well timed.

-Looks like this guy has come prepared.

That's all right.

Do you want to just dig out the information?

-Yeah.

-That would be very good. And you got it yesterday?

-Adrian, you've just been pulled over.

-Yes.

The officer thought you had no insurance.

I have, I've got temporary for the last...

-For the next week.

-So your lucky day, really, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

How do you feel about being pulled over?

I suppose the police are just doing their job and he's got to do his job

so fair play to him, I suppose.

Yeah? You have no grief, no...

-No, no, safety first, isn't it?

-Yeah, exactly.

It's my life and everyone else's life so...

-Well, obviously you are a sensible driver, aren't you?

-Insurance is important, make sure you get some.

He is doing an advert for insurance now!

-Everything else with the car is all good?

-Yeah.

So as far as you're concerned, he's doing a good job, you should be on your way soon.

Everything's great, yeah.

Actually, it might not be.

Has Jay spotted a problem?

All the way, as far as you can.

This guy's front tyre is almost balder than an eagle.

-Right.

-Now this could be a fine.

You are getting beyond low, OK?

-Yeah.

-You can see that line here.

-That one?

-Yeah, OK, that is...

You can see the edge. Right, I'll make sure I will get them next week before...

-I'll have a quick look at the other one.

-Yes, sure.

Because that is really, really, really low.

He avoided stumping up for driving without insurance,

but driving with a bald tyre carries an on-the-spot fine of £100

and three penalty points.

So, what's it to be, Jay?

-That's good.

-The tyres just scrape the legal limit.

It really is this driver's lucky day as he narrowly avoids another fine.

I reckon, give it a week or so, you're going to have cord showing

through, which you don't want.

-No.

-OK? So my advice is get it sorted out. Other than that, you are good.

-OK, thanks very much.

-No, thank you for your time.

Adrian, I have got more on my head than you have got on your tyre.

I'm joining you!

HE CHUCKLES

This is the first time I've actually been pulled over,

and it's been quite a good experience,

rather than a bad experience,

as sometimes it can be a little bit hairy,

you never know, you can be intimidated maybe, you know?

Yeah? But you felt it was all good?

-Yeah.

-There you go. Thumbs up, Jay.

-I like that. Thumbs up from me.

-Thank you, Officer.

-Cheers, Adrian.

Cheers, Adrian, drive safely.

Nice to see a happy customer.

He'd better get that tyre looked at, though.

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

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