Episode 9 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 this 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.'

-Might give him a punch.

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, there's a 30mph limit, here!

I'm Dom Littlewood

and I'm...On The Spot.

This time, there's a spot of motorway madness.

So you've left your wife and child

on the hard shoulder of the motorway?

I'm on the spot with the fag-butt police.

I witnessed you both littering a cigarette on the floor.

When it comes to dishing out on-the-spot fines,

busy traffic cops are there on the front line.

In Wiltshire, it's Friday night rush hour and traffic cop

Warren Knight is on the lookout

for misbehaving cars, trucks,

motorbikes...and pedestrians?!

The report was of pedestrians initially on the motorway,

so we'll go and have a look and see what they are

and what we need to do with them.

Pedestrians create a distraction

and people will, as they did,

call in to say there are pedestrians.

Sometimes, they will look at the pedestrians

and not look at what's going on in front.

We get quite a high fatality rate on the hard shoulder because

if you fall asleep, even momentarily,

if you're in this lane, this single first lane,

you'll always go off to the left,

naturally, you'll go off to the left.

You generally don't go off to the right.

So you put yourself in danger and you put other road users in danger.

Now, I seem to remember

from doing the Highway Code

and the big signs before you enter the motorway

that pedestrians are banned, so with that in mind, is this a fine?

Well, as long as it's not an accident, first.

You can get a £50 fine for being on the motorway.

So, we'll go and have a look.

And there's the pedestrian,

taking a leisurely stroll on the hard shoulder.

Right, let's see what he's got to say.

He'll probably need a good excuse if he's going to avoid a fine.

Hello, there. Have you broken down?

No, what happened is, his father is in my car and we were at the

-services. He accidentally had his car key in his pocket.

-Right.

And if I had to go farther, it was like 25 miles and then it was

another exit, so we decided we'll walk halfway and then go back.

OK, Warren, was that a fine-avoiding excuse?

It's an offence to walk on the motorway, do you know that?

Hm, didn't think so.

You're not allowed to be a pedestrian on the motorway.

What you should have done is called the emergency services,

got them to pick up your colleague.

Oh, sorry.

I can definitely call them, the emergency services...

-I AM the emergency services, I'm the police.

-Oh, dear.

Yeah, what you've got is a member of the public, he's with

another colleague...

He's forgotten to pick that person up, he's got a set of keys...

So where have you left your car?

It's further down with my wife and the baby there.

So you've left your wife and child

on the hard shoulder of the motorway?

This story is just getting worse.

Hang on a minute,

here comes ANOTHER pedestrian and

I'm guessing another potential fine.

Are there going to be any points or anything on my licence?

No, it's not a driving offence, it's a motorway offence.

So, no points, but definitely a fine.

-How much is the fine?

-It's about £50.

Oh, no.

-Right, let's get you off the motorway, that's the main thing.

-OK.

Right, you start walking back to your car.

This could turn into a double fine,

but that isn't Warren's number-one priority.

Well, I'm going to get them off the motorway,

that's the first priority, is get them off the motorway.

OK, now for afternoon stroller number two.

Can I ask you why you're on the motorway?

DROWNED BY TRAFFIC NOISE

Why didn't you just wait for him at the service area?

Do you know you're committing an offence by walking on the motorway?

Ah-ah-ah.

The safest place for you is back in your vehicle on the service area,

not on the hard shoulder.

We'll just follow these two up to a vehicle, where it's safe,

and get them off the motorway. Um...

Why they thought it would be appropriate to walk along the carriageway, I don't know,

but there is an offence under the Motorway Regulations Act that

you're not allowed to be a pedestrian on the motorway.

Clearly these two have endangered themselves,

and potentially distracted other road users

by being on the carriageway.

The motorway is a dangerous place.

People will look and get distracted by these two.

Why he didn't just want to drive the circuit round...

It's about six miles,

a loop. I don't know. This is not an emergency.

He's left his family, his wife and child, in that car,

it's an unattended vehicle now on the motorway.

So he's put them at risk as well.

I can't even see his car.

His car seems miles away,

I can't believe they didn't just drive around.

I can't really fathom what they were thinking, to be fair.

It's not as if he's walked a short way.

If he'd walked a short way, you could probably just,

you know... Deal with them here.

So is this going to be a double whammy of fines? What do you reckon?

Is it a fine?

-Where's your car?

-Down there...

-You can see...

-TRAFFIC DROWNS SPEECH

Right. I'm going to caution you both, you don't have to say anything, but it may harm your

defence if you do not mention when questioned, something upon which you rely on in court.

Anything you do say, may be given in evidence,

do you understand the caution?

OK, you have committed an offence under the motorway regulations.

OK? You're not allowed to be pedestrians on the motorway.

It's dangerous, it's distracting,

you've left your family vulnerable on the hard shoulder.

It's more about your safety.

You've walked about 5km.

So it's good for your health, but not on the motorway!

Let's take another look at that strange situation.

Not one, but two pedestrians

walking down the hard shoulder of

a busy motorway.

So, what's it going to be, Warren?

The way I propose to deal with it is give you both a ticket.

Yep, Warren wasn't going to let that bit of craziness go, was he?

It's not one, but two £50 on-the-spot fines.

This isn't an emergency.

This is a bit of forgetfulness on your part and to be fair,

if I'm quite honest, a bit of laziness.

That was an expensive stroll, wasn't it, guys?

One in the front, one in the back.

You go in the front seat, you go in the back.

Sometimes, the safest place is in the back of a police car, after all.

Now, there's not many things in life I hate, but let me tell you,

littering is one of them and we've all seen it before.

A crisp packet thrown out of a car window,

a fag butt tossed to the floor.

It might not seem like much, but when you add it up,

it costs us taxpayers £500 million a year.

So if you don't pick up, you may be paying out.

I'm going to be busy on the beat in Cardiff city centre.

Of all the local councils in Wales, Cardiff is at the top of

the rubbish pile.

Cleaning the streets here costs the council taxpayers like you and I

£5 million a year and it's waste enforcement officer

Stephanie Marnell Jones' job to stamp out the litter louts.

What a nice day to be patrolling the streets -

pouring down with rain, you've got a hood, I haven't!

'But the rain's not going to dampen Dom On The Spot.

'Steph's on a one-woman mission and her biggest weapon in the

'battle on garbage is an £80 on-the-spot fine.'

-People take it well or do they object a lot?

-Not really.

Not nice to receive a fixed penalty,

but if you've done something wrong, you can't really argue with it.

People know that littering is an offence, but

a lot of people don't realise their cigarette is classed as littering.

"It's only a fag."

But if four million people smoke and they all throw their cigarettes

on the floor, it doesn't just become only a fag then, does it?

The council are waging a war on smokers because smoking is

one of the biggest causes of litter.

Even though many smokers don't even know they're breaking the law.

So, if you followed someone down the high street smoking, would you

say there's a very good chance they're going to throw that on the floor?

-Yeah.

-Why is that? Why is that message not getting through?

I think it's because people think they can get away with it.

I've just counted what I can see, 13 cigarette butts.

-And that's without looking too hard, isn't it?

-Yeah.

That's just there to there in a couple of feet.

You can imagine how many there are just with 13 in a couple of feet.

-I can see one there.

-They're everywhere.

-Yeah, they're everywhere.

-You can't avoid them, can you?

Dropping a fag in Cardiff can result in an £80 on-the-spot fine.

Steph knows a hot spot for our butt patrol.

A shopping arcade.

Could this non-smoking zone be penalty central?

This lady here in the black coat, she's going to flick her fag, but

there's a no-smoking sign. She's smoking right under the bin sign.

There we are. In I go.

And she's off the block.

Excuse me. Hi, could I just speak to you a second?

The reason I wanted to speak to you is,

I saw you smoking outside there, where you're not allowed to smoke

and then you littered by throwing the cigarette onto the floor.

So, in the race to the shops, this offender failed to observe

the sign and dropped her butt on the floor.

Will this smoker get a fine or be let off with a warning?

Comes with a fixed penalty of £80.

That's what I'm going to issue to you now, all right?

And she romps home with an £80 fine for a soggy ciggy.

Do you feel, cos I didn't speak to her, with her attitude,

that that will make a change her ways?

I don't know, she seemed like a nice girl, but she didn't say,

"I wouldn't do it again," or anything like that.

And another culprit.

Hi, can I speak to you a sec?

Has anyone seen that sign or the designated bins?

Another copycat crime and another £80 fine.

It's a butt bonanza because here's yet another one.

-Hi, can I speak to you a second?

-There it is. That's the evidence.

Will she charge her?

I'm a waste enforcement officer for Cardiff Council.

And I've just witnessed you littering by throwing

your cigarette on the floor.

I think what's a bit daft about this is - there's

a dustbin there with a cigarette ashtray on top.

It's probably 15 metres or so.

So for the sake of walking 15 metres,

she possibly could be facing an £80 fine now.

She's got her notebook out.

Steph definitely means business.

-I'm going to issue with a fixed penalty for the offence of littering.

-OK.

-Did you know it was an offence to throw a cigarette?

-No, I didn't.

-OK.

Well, it's hard to miss the notices and the bins.

But for that blatant puff and drop, littering the pavement,

no ifs, no buts, she gets £80 taken off her

as a fixed penalty notice, leaving this young lady very upset.

-You obviously just received a penalty there.

-Yes.

-£80.

-You obviously know why, as well.

-Yes.

-Did it come as a bit of a shock to you?

-Yes.

-Tell me why.

-I didn't know.

-You didn't know it cost £80?

-Now you realise it's an offence.

-Yeah, I'll obviously throw it in the bin now.

-Is this the last time you'll ever throw it on the floor?

-Yes.

It came as quite a shock to her, but after that shock sort of passed,

as she says, it's obvious now,

-it is littering, I just never really thought about it.

-Yes.

I don't think she'll do it again.

I can tell you, if there was more Stephs here right now,

there'd be a lot more penalties.

Everyone just seems to be throwing them on the floor without

even thinking about it.

'People need educating. Butts don't biodegrade quickly.

'They take 12 years to breakdown.'

-Steph, you're going to need a bigger pad and pencil, aren't you?

-I know!

Steph's pushing on - to the high street.

A couple out shopping? Surely not.

I witnessed you both littering - a cigarette on the floor.

-You discarded them on the floor and you walked away from them.

-We did, you're right.

Let's see that again.

The smoker takes a final drag.

The cigarette hits the floor, she stubs it out with her foot.

Steph also spotted him doing it, too.

Together, it could be a massive £160 fine.

It's £80, it has to be paid within seven days.

If you can't afford to do it within seven days,

give us a call and we can offer you a payment plan.

Steph's decided to be lenient - jammy smokers.

That's a lot of money, isn't it?

Well, at the end of the day, she's right in what she's saying,

there are ashtrays marked everywhere.

You know, we're what, ten feet in any direction from a litter bin,

from an ashtray and we put them out on the floor.

'This couple don't realise how lucky they've been, though.'

Yeah, it's £80 per person, so I think she's, yeah,

it could have been a lot worse.

It's going to make us think twice now.

And we do hate litter. We really do hate littering.

With a cigarette butt, you just don't think of it as being a big issue.

I wouldn't dream of dropping a cup or a crisp packet.

It just wouldn't enter my head.

-I'd shove it in my handbag if I couldn't see anything.

-Yeah.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there, Liz.

I think that's what most people do.

They don't consider cigarette butts as littering.

Now we've had a fine, it's going to make us think in the future.

-Absolutely.

-An expensive day!

-Yeah.

-Nice talking to you.

-And you.

Sorry you got penalised, but, you know, hopefully... Give up!

We do, frequently!

-I know the feeling. Cheerio. Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.

A bit of compassion I offered.

I gave them one fixed penalty which was £80. Two would have been £160.

It would have been very painful, wouldn't it?

It would have been very painful, yeah.

But they were together, it was in the same spot and, you know,

so I gave them the one fixed penalty.

She was very relieved when she realised it could have been two. Yeah.

'A hard day's work.

'And a result for Cardiff Council.'

-Today, six people received a penalty.

-Yeah.

That's nearly 500 quid into the council's coffers to pay for

-the cleaning, etc, etc.

-Yeah.

And no doubt those six people who got those penalties will be

telling all their mates, all their work colleagues and saying, "Watch out."

-Yeah.

-"That just cost me 80 quid."

-Yeah.

-Can I get you a tea and a brownie?

-Yeah, great.

There are over 37 million vehicles in the UK and the law says

they all need to be taxed.

Driving without it cheats the country's coffers out

of £80 million a year.

Well, they should be fined.

And the cars should be taken off them.

I don't see why these people should get away with not paying car tax.

I've got to pay it.

I think crushing, I think that's totally acceptable.

It teaches people a lesson, doesn't it?

For those owners of untaxed vehicles, there are consequences.

At the DVLA HQ in Swansea, I'm meeting chief executive

Oliver Morley...

You certainly run a very tight ship here.

I mean, I can see everybody's busy.

..whose job it is to ensure the £6 billion in revenue from

car taxes is properly collected and the tax evaders are dealt with.

Why are there so many people who still have untaxed vehicles on the road?

Cos it's very hard to get away with, isn't it?

Well, I think for the most part,

it's very clear that people, you know, might forget.

We do provide as many reminders as we can.

We send the standard vehicle reminder to everyone

who has a vehicle,

who's updated their address.

In the end, there are, however,

some hardened evaders who we really do want to deal with.

If they then don't pay, what happens?

We, as you know, have a wheel clamping arrangement.

It's one of the very rare legal arrangements in which we can wheel clamp.

If you don't pay your tax, you will get clamped.

In Middlesex, John Kelly works on behalf of the DVLA

to ensure untaxed vehicles are off the streets, by clamping and

fining the owners.

And he's got a special piece of tech to help identify them.

CAR: Attention!

Automatic number plate recognition cameras.

So the cameras are a great tool.

Cos, obviously, you can't just drive around guessing at what

you think is taxed and what isn't taxed.

You do need to have an up-to-date database.

It's not just us.

We're driving around with the ANPR cameras, the police are driving around with their ANPR cameras.

So the chances are, yeah, you might get away with it for a few months.

But eventually, somebody is going to come across your car.

And when they do, it can mean a hefty fine of up to £260.

It's not long before the cameras pick up a potential car tax evader.

But will John be issuing them with a fine?

The registration is the correct read.

Quite clearly, the vehicle is parked half on the road,

half on the pavement.

The pavement does constitute the highway.

The DVLA database confirms the car is definitely untaxed.

What's the damage going to be?

We've done the necessary checks. It's come up.

He's declared it statutory off-road.

Having a statutory off-road notification or SORN means

this car should not be on a public highway, let alone parked halfway on

a pavement.

To get the padlock off, he needs to ring

the contact number on the information leaflet.

Pays £260.

We'll send somebody out. The clamp will then be removed.

So that car shouldn't even be on the road and it's untaxed.

Which means the owner will now have to fork out a £260 fine.

Well, people, obviously, they're not happy.

A lot of people just stand there going, "Mate, I'm really sorry.

"I hadn't realised."

I've had people actually say, "Well, can you wait five minutes, I'll ring it now and I'll make the payment."

So, fine, I'll stand there, wait for them to make the payment,

take it off, as long as they're going to do it straight away.

If the owner of this car doesn't come forward, it will be taken to

a compound where it could be put up for auction or even crushed.

For John, tracking down untaxed vehicles is an essential job.

If people aren't going to tax their car, then the next step, they're not going to insure their cars.

It'd come down to the minority that are taxed and insured, MOT'd.

You'd have all sorts of unroadworthy cars out there.

Untold accidents, the roads would be carnage.

CAR: Attention. CAR BLEEPS

-Right, that gives us a hit on there.

-Hello.

The cameras have spotted a potentially untaxed Mini.

And that's not the only one. It's a bleeping bonanza.

We've had a couple of bleeps.

We've got that Volkswagen over there, the Serena...

Something's not right.

It's rare for John to get so many bleeps on one street.

Basically, we've come down this street.

We've tried to drive further down and they've pinged off on three vehicles over this side.

It's very unusual you get four like that.

Not unheard of but very unusual.

So, John spotted four cars parked on one road all without tax.

I can feel some fines coming on.

Hang on, here comes the clamp.

-About time, mate.

-At least one resident is pleased to see John.

-All of these here are his, you know?

-I ain't got a clue.

It turns out all those untaxed cars belong to one man.

I think everyone down here pays their car tax.

For this guy to come round, you know, dump them on our streets, it's a joke.

Why should everyone else have to play and, you know, these people get away with it?

It makes me very angry when people don't pay their tax.

-Does he live here?

-He lives up there in the maisonette, yeah.

-Is he a trader or...?

-They were all up for sale the other day and now he's took the stickers off them.

-So...

-All right, nice one.

-All right, see you, mate.

-Cheers.

Well, there's a gentleman who is obviously sick and tired of

seeing these vehicles parked here with no tax.

And he's over the moon to see that something is actually happening.

It looks like that haul of untaxed cars is going to cost

the owner a pretty penny.

He's potentially looking at over £1,000-worth of fines.

All right, that's it, that's the job finished.

And there's more bad news for him.

With one million cars crushed every year in the UK,

if those vehicles aren't claimed within the next 14 days,

they could suffer the same fate.

But it's all in a day's work for John.

We are massive dog lovers in this country but lots of dogs

means lots of doggy mess and while the majority of dog owners

are responsible enough to bag it and bin it,

there are some who aren't quite getting the message.

Here you go.

Ooh!

In Pendle, the council are on

a mission to banish dog mess once and for all,

handing out fines of up to £75 for irresponsible dog owners,

Environmental crime officer Jon Yurek is on the front line.

He's come to a notorious dog-doo hot spot,

armed with a secret weapon.

It's a popular dog-walking route.

But the main issue we have here is the dog fouling that occurs here.

And so we've developed this idea that we were going to spray any

dog fouling that we found.

And that way, it allows the residents and the dog walkers to see it.

And because you can see it more clearly, it becomes

a little bit more offensive, which might put some people off just

letting their dogs foul and actually take responsibility for their dogs.

So, here's some now.

It's disgusting because there's the dog bins right here.

No reason why people can't pick after their dog.

If Jon sees a dog owner allowing their pooch to poo on

the path, he can issue them with a £75 on-the-spot fine.

But catching them in the act isn't easy.

It's bad because we can't enforce it as well as we would like to

because if we stand there, looking down,

the road bends round to the left, so we can't actually see the

dog walkers doing their entire route so we have to...

It's difficult to try and walk up and down without looking suspicious.

Jon sprays the mess so he can identify the old poo and

keep an eye out for any new doggy deposits.

When I come back, I can find out how long this has been here.

And if any fresh dog mess has been put here,

I know it's on a daily occurrence.

I like to try and explain it, like, if you're a child,

a child is going to step in it, and then he's going to take his shoes off, then it's under

his fingernails and his mum's going to make him a sandwich...

The same hand that's got the dog mess on, he's going to put his

fingers on his sandwich, the sandwich is going to go in his mouth...

You know, that's... I wouldn't want to do that.

Jon's right. Dog fouling isn't just an unsightly mess.

It can have serious consequences for your health.

As mum Becky Willoughby knows too well.

Her daughter, Libby, suffers from a condition called toxocariasis,

which affects around 50 people a year.

Most of whom are children.

You had a good day today?

We first found out about the toxocara when Libby failed her

eye test at school in reception, when she was five years old.

Libby's eyesight was permanently damaged by a tiny parasite

that can be contracted by coming into contact with dog mess.

So when people come into contact with faeces that have been left

lying around, either because someone hasn't scooped up after their

dog or if it's been a fox in your garden, and then a little

parasite can get into your system and it burrows into the eyeball.

And can damage it.

But in this case, it was mum Becky who had come into contact with

dog faeces while gardening when she was pregnant with Libby.

It is really scary that this can happen with

a pregnant lady who can pass it on to their unborn child.

Cos the ones you hear about are usually the child's been in

the playground or on the field, whereas when you're pregnant,

you wouldn't expect that you could pass on something like that to your child.

It's not what you want as a mother.

I was affected in my eye, so there's a scar in the middle of it,

so light can't be reflected properly onto the retina.

It's in this eye and I can see partially just in this bit.

So if I close my eye, I can see but if I want to see over there I have

to, like, tilt my head.

But things could have been even worse for Libby, as this nasty

creature is capable of serious harm.

In Libby's case, it's only a slight bit of damage,

but in other children, they've actually gone completely blind cos

of the damage it's done in their eyeballs.

People like me can go blind.

Which is bad but it can be worse because you can get scarred

in your brain and your lungs and your liver.

It could be really serious.

As a mother, when you find out that your child's got their eyes damaged

from something like that, you sort of immediately think, "How and why has it happened?

"What could I have done to stop it happening? And what's the

"impact going to be on her for the rest of her life?"

With the fact that her eye is damaged and there's absolutely

nothing at the moment that can be done to fix it.

The experience has given Libby strong views about dog fouling.

I do notice dog mess quite often.

I think I subconsciously scour the streets for it.

But it does make me quite cross that people haven't been bothered

to pick up their dog's faeces because if you're going to have a dog,

you have to look after it and if I could,

I would walk round with dog bags and just, like, pick up all of it.

Some people don't understand what it actually can do to people.

My message to any dog walker is just scoop that poop.

It won't take you long and it could make such

a difference to somebody else's child.

That's all for today.

Join me next time, when I'll be on the front line with the

professionals who are issuing more on-the-spot fines.