Episode 9 Street Patrol UK

'Our lives are blighted by anti-social behaviour,

'whether it's nuisance neighbours, graffiti on the streets or too much booze.'

-Come in, enjoy yourself, have a drink, but don't be a twit all night.

-It's all right, darling.

'This is the story of police officers, council wardens and local volunteers

'whose job it is to keep it off our streets.'

I live next door to it and I've got to put up with this. It's just not acceptable.

Welcome to Street Patrol UK.

'Coming up on today's programme,

'one man's cry for help against the foul behaviour of dog owners.'

If you want to live in the sewer, go and live in the sewer. Don't turn every place you go to into a sewer.

'The 4x4 drivers' wanton destruction of an ancient Roman site

'and the fear that went with it.'

There were four of them and there was one of you

and you're half a mile from anyone else.

You were in a fairly vulnerable situation.

'And the filthy tenants whose property was so disgusting,

'their neighbours had to move out.'

They'd filled bin bags full of rubbish and just thrown them in the yard.

They've not made any attempt to get rid of them through the normal channels and it just makes me puke.

Clearing up your own mess is something we've all got to do.

Clearing up somebody else's can become very irritating very quickly.

Particularly if that mess is dog poo

and that dog has got absolutely nothing at all to do with you

but it keeps doing its business right outside your house.

'Peter Bond from Essex is at the end of his tether

'after months of dog muck ruining his and his wife's daily life.'

It is a problem because it's upsetting my wife,

because my wife can't stand looking at it on the road,

she goes out and clears it up.

'Peter and his wife, Elizabeth, have lived in their home in Jaywick for less than a year.

'But already their dream retirement has been blighted by dog poo

'from all sorts of dogs on the pathways around their home.'

It's not the dog's fault. It's the owner's fault.

If you don't clear up after a dog, it's not the dog's fault.

Everybody blames the dirty dogs.

That's what they call them round here. Dirty dogs.

But it ain't. It's the owners who are dirty, not the dogs.

'It may seem like a small problem,

'but the Bonds have been living with the consequences of careless dog owners day after day

'and feel powerless to make it stop.

'In fact, the situation has become so upsetting

'that they could be forced to take drastic action.'

We'd lose a lot of money, but if it upsets my wife in any way,

I will have no option but to leave.

'The Bonds are not alone in their complaint.

'Dog fouling, together with litter, is top of the list of complaints

'to MPs from people across the UK.

'Like millions of others around the country, Peter is a responsible dog owner,

'which makes it particularly hard for him to understand all the foul behaviour happening on his doorstep.

'With the situation really getting on top of him,

'Peter has finally reached out to the local council

'and asked for their help to deal with one particular incident he's witnessed.'

In Tendring, we all try to work as closely together as we can.

The more eyes and ears you've got on the ground,

the better you can tackle the problems.

'Tendring Council takes anti-social behaviour like this very seriously.

'And with fines of up to £1,000 for dog owners who refuse to play ball

'and pick up their dog's poo,

'ex-copper Darren is hot on their trail.

'Darren meets up with Tendring's dog warden, Alan East.'

Hi, mate. The witness lives just down Lake Way, just on the right,

so what we'll do is go down there, we'll speak to him,

and depending on what he says, we can take a statement from him

and hopefully then go on to where the offender lives

and sort it out from there.

-OK.

-OK? All right.

'The short walk to the Bonds' house is littered with evidence of persistent dog-fouling.

'There are plenty of owners not scooping the poop round here.

'It's not just that the stuff stinks

'and can end up contaminating a wide area very quickly.

'If you come into contact, it can also give you a nasty infection

'which can result in blindness.

'So with around 8 million dogs in the UK

'producing 1,000 tons of poo every day,

'this is not a problem to be sniffed at.'

-Morning.

-Hello, Mrs Bond. How are you?

-All right, thanks. Come in.

-Can we come in?

-Yes.

-Right. OK.

I need to take a statement from you and then from what you tell me,

I'll speak to the gentleman concerned.

I think you're going to have a job to prove who the owner is.

-Does it have to be the owner?

-No.

-That's what's in my mind. You're in charge of that dog if you're out with it.

-That's right.

It's going to be either the owner or the keeper. The keeper is the person

-that's actually taking the dog for a walk.

-Yeah.

People don't realise that, but that's the actual fact,

because they're in charge of that dog.

'But as Peter knows only too well,

'when dog-walkers fail to clear up the mess,

'it can make life a misery for everyone else.'

I've got to live here. I've only been here since November last year

and we're proud of our home.

We don't live in crap inside,

-I don't want to live in crap outside.

-No.

'The final straw came when someone walking a dog

'refused to clear up the mess right in front of Peter.'

Could I have a little sit down?

Right, what we need first of all is to get the statement of what you see.

-Was it the same dog that did it here that's been doing it up there?

-Yes.

-I've got two other witnesses but they won't talk to you.

-No.

Cos they don't want reprisals.

I was standing with them when it happened!

-There's a man who lives...

-'Peter's clearly at his wits' end

'and he fears for the state of the whole neighbourhood.'

There's several of us here and we're trying to tidy the place up

-but we don't stand any chance.

-Well, with your help...

-We don't stand any chance.

-No, you do.

With your help, we'll act on it.

I pay full council tax and I'm entitled to something back,

and that's something done about it.

-So the dog stopped...

-Yeah.

-..on the right-hand side.

-Yep.

Relieved itself in a big way.

If you actually see the amount it does, it's unbelievable.

You'd think it was a horse. Honest.

-Did the two chaps stand there whilst it was doing it?

-Yeah, stood there.

And I said, "Are you going to clean it up?" and he just stood there and said, "I can't, I ain't got a bag."

I thought, "That's what you need to clean it up."

'Now armed with a full statement of this particular incident,

'Darren and Alan have what they need to take some action.'

Thanks ever so much for your time.

Speaking to the guy inside the property, it's obviously affected him

quite dramatically, actually. He's very upset about it.

It's making his life a misery. He almost expects

some sort of anti-social behaviour to happen, all because of the dog-fouling.

'From the information Peter's given them, Darren and Alan

'have got a good idea where to start to try and clear up his complaint.

'And you know what they say. There's no time like the present.'

There are all kinds of anti-social behaviour, we know that,

but some of it is more surprising than others.

And in this next story, you'll realise that what starts out

as something quite straightforward

soon turns into something that's quite menacing.

'On Britain's roads today, there are over a million uninsured drivers,

'and that means the rest of us, that's you and me,

'have to pick up the tab with extra costs on our insurance.

'As part of an operation to crack down on such anti-social crime,

'on a busy road in Hertfordshire, police are carrying out a vehicle stop and search.

'But it seems they've uncovered more than they bargained for with one driver.'

We've stopped a vehicle and coming from the vehicle

was a strong smell of cannabis.

On a search of the vehicle, we found cannabis individually wrapped,

so we're searching the rest of the vehicle now.

That's what we found in the vehicle.

How much did you pay for it?

Per wrap?

Is it all for use by you or do you buy it for someone else?

You are still under caution, so I suggest if you come and sit in the back of our police van

and then we'll go from there.

'It seems 57-year-old John Tone from Essex

'is carrying a hefty stash of cannabis.

'But is it just for his personal use or for someone else?

'Because although cannabis is illegal,

'if it is for personal use and there are no previous drug arrests or convictions,

'the police can issue just a warning.

'Further investigation is clearly needed.'

-Ten wraps.

-Right, ten wraps.

-20 quid each.

£200 worth of stuff.

And he says it's for his own use?

OK, the officer's explained to me what the situation is.

It appears you have ten wraps that you say are worth £20 each,

that's £200. It's a lot of money's worth of drugs, but you say it's for your own use, is it?

How much drugs do you use on a daily basis?

-OK.

-'This admission that the drugs are for his wife

'suddenly ramps up the situation to a whole new level.'

-I'm arresting you on suspicion of possession of cannabis with intent to supply?

-Yes.

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

'Make no mistake. Cannabis is a class B drug,

'which if you're found guilty of supply and production,

'carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years,

'an unlimited fine, or both.

'What started as a straightforward stop and search for John Tone

'is fast turning into his worst nightmare.'

He's been stopped with a reasonable amount of cannabis

that he initially denied was with him and then he said it was for his personal possession.

While considering how to dispose of him through arrest or through caution

because he's got no previous convictions,

he's admitted to us that actually the drugs are for his wife.

He said it's been in the van for a while. That indicates to me

that if she is a regular taker, there'll be more at the home address

and therefore we need to do a search of the premises.

So he's been arrested.

'The police sense there is more to this story than meets the eye

'and decide to call in their suspicions to CID colleagues

'so that they can immediately go and check out the driver's home address for any more surprises.

'Later on, we'll see the unbelievable scene

'that was waiting for them just inside this suburban garage door.

'Over in Preston in Lancashire,

'street-cleaning supervisor Tommy Loftus is out on his daily rounds.'

I've been doing this for ten years and I enjoy every minute of it.

I think it's the best job I've ever had.

'After 22 years in the army and a variety of jobs,

'including stints as a long-distance lorry driver and drainage engineer,

'it seems Tommy has found his dream job.'

I like the job. I mean, it's out in the open,

plenty of fresh air, plenty of exercise and it costs me nothing and I get paid!

I don't have to go to gyms to keep fit. I just do this job.

'And make no mistake, dropping litter is a thoughtless, anti-social thing to do

'and carries a fine of up to £80.

'If you don't pay, you risk a heftier penalty

'of £2,500,

'so it could become a very expensive bit of rubbish.'

People just don't realise that when they drop litter,

it costs them money to pick it up if they're a taxpayer.

I mean, my team go through about 30 of these bags a day,

just going round the city centre picking. 30.

If people actually thought about it,

the rubbish that's collected in Preston,

if we stopped picking litter up for a month, you wouldn't be able to walk the streets.

'And you're not wrong there, Tommy.

'Litter louts across the UK drop 30 tons of litter every year,

'costing us taxpayers £885 million to keep our streets rubbish-free.

'Not only is rubbish an eyesore, if no-one picks it up,

'it can attract vermin and become a health hazard.

'Some litter carries immediate, clear dangers.'

That is a live one because the needle's in it.

That's what we call a dead one, cos it's just a casing.

There was one spot we went to and we actually picked up 68 needles

in one area, just in a small area. That was on the main street.

'And luckily for the people of Preston,

'Tommy's enthusiasm for his job knows no bounds.'

We get a lot of dog mess in the street, as well.

If you're going to have a dog, you should be a responsible dog owner.

'It seems nothing's going to stand in the way of Tommy's dedication to his job,

'certainly not his age.'

I'm 70 now and the council are happy for me to carry on

and I enjoy the work.

Obviously, there'll come a time when I can't do the job, but when that time comes, I'll pack in.

It is a disgusting job, when it comes to it,

but somebody's got to do it and that's what we get paid for.

It's all part and parcel of the job.

'A vehicle stop and search operation in Hertfordshire

'uncovered a £200 stash of cannabis

'in a van driven by 57-year-old John Tone from Essex.

'Police suspicions were aroused

'and a team of Hertfordshire officers have set off to search John's home.

'But little do they know just what awaits them inside the smart house

'tucked away on a pretty well-manicured estate in Harlow.

'Once inside, the officers made a shocking discovery.'

What we've found inside the address so far

is a quantity of herbal cannabis,

which looks as though it's been harvested

and pre-prepared in some tubs

and jars at this time.

And I'll tell you where we believe that's come from.

And we've found the garage. You can see the extractors blowing out of the roof.

Come inside and found this set-up here,

which is a load of transformers, some water butts,

fertiliser, hydroponics.

And then upon opening the door...

..there's 24 plants

and they're all of a mature state.

'Suddenly, instead of just a handful of cannabis wraps,

'the police are now looking at a forest of marijuana

'in a garage on a pristine housing estate

'that could be home to any of us.

'It sounds unbelievable.'

Cannabis factories cropping up in residential areas is something

that is becoming increasingly more common,

the reason being that nobody expects to find

a factory of that nature there and therefore people can operate

without suspicion for a period of time

until ultimately most of them do get caught.

A bit shocked, really. It's the last thing you'd expect to find in Church Langley.

Just makes me feel unsafe, because you don't know who's living next door,

you don't know who you're talking to, you think you know people,

but you just don't know. There's so many different stories going about.

I just want my little girl to feel safe, and if I don't feel safe, how am I supposed to make her feel safe?

'But, in fact, the latest figures show that commercial cannabis farms

'in domestic and industrial properties across the UK have risen

'to over 7,500.

'And over the past two years, cannabis worth over £200 million

'has been seized.'

There's a little chart that just shows up here,

indicating when the watering session's going to take place,

how long and how much light is required,

how much fertiliser and on what days they need to go,

so it shows that there is a great deal of cultivation and production element to it,

it's not just a bit of personal, unfortunately.

'You can say that again. It looks like John Tone and his partner,

'Elaine Croft, both in their 50s,

'have been cultivating their secret stash for quite some time.'

They're extractors. They will basically take the air out of here,

up into the roof, where there'll be a couple of lime scrubbers to take the smell out of it.

Cos it smells quite strong in here. There's actually filtration stuff

up above us here.

This takes the air out of there, through the filtration,

so when the air's passed out of the building, it doesn't smell like cannabis.

'In spite of all the technology inside the garage,

'a good old-fashioned tape measure is all the police need

'to work out the age of the plants and how long they've been growing in their smart home

'in the heart of London's commuter belt.'

So that is 140.

'But it's not just the height of the plants that's of interest to the officers.'

With regards to the useful part of the plant, essentially, it's the bud section here.

If you see, there appears to be lots of microscopic droplets on there.

That's the psychoactive part of the plant

that does produce the desired effects. That is really the only useful part.

On some of the plants, you've got a large section cut off at the bottom.

That's where it's already been harvested.

'These plants have clearly been harvested more than once as they've been growing

'to make the most of their crooked crop.'

I wouldn't imagine the neighbours have got any idea what's been going on.

It's quite shocking that we've really not noticed

that there's that kind of activity going on,

because people are always around, walking their dogs,

taking their children to school, and never noticed anything odd.

I'm happy that the police have shut it down.

Obviously, if you've got something like that, you might end up with drug dealers on the streets,

which is what you don't want, so I'm very happy.

'After bagging all the evidence they need,

'the police are ready to take the offending homeowners down to the station for a full interview.

'So, just when you think you know what your neighbours are up to,

'think again.

'I've been out and about on a street patrol of my own

'to hear what bothers you about Britain today.'

-Michael, it's nice to meet you.

-Thanks.

-What bothers you about anti-social behaviour?

You can't go down the roads without dog excrement, that sort of thing.

That's just terrible. You've got to walk out into the road to avoid it. It needs clearing up very soon.

What do you see out there that drives you mad, anti-social behaviour-wise?

-People spitting in public.

-Ohh, yes, I'm with you on that.

People in train stations when they're on their phones texting

and you're trying to get somewhere and they won't move.

-And what's your name?

-Ron.

-Ron, nice to meet you.

What sort of anti-social habits do you see that you hate?

When I get on the bus and there are people talking loudly on their mobile phones.

I do hear a lot of that.

And then others are listening to their music with earphones on very loudly.

I do get upset over that, as well.

Cos when I get on the bus, I want a bit of peace and quiet.

What winds you up, as a 26-year-old man, that people do out there that's anti-social?

There's a lot of rudeness, when you just walk past people.

I just think it's the way that people don't connect with each other,

you know, they don't communicate a lot, you can walk past on the street and no-one says hello or anything.

When you say rudeness, is that something you're a victim of or something you just witness?

A bit of both, to be honest. I've seen out on the streets daily

people walking past and they don't socialise, you know. We're all kind of trapped in our boxes.

-Brilliant answer. Lovely talking to you.

-Thank you.

-Really appreciate it. Cheers.

'Take a look at any gorgeous part of the British countryside

'and you think of birds singing, people out walking across rolling farmland, plenty of peace and quiet.

You'd never imagine it was blighted by anti-social behaviour. But think again.

The vehicles come in here, knock down the fence...

..cause havoc and go round and round and turn this field into a mud bath.

The spot was ruined. Oil and petrol going into the river.

It was just churned to mud. Yes, it was like a bomb site.

'The area around Malmesbury in Wiltshire is a proper beauty spot.

'But for almost 20 years,

'rogue 4x4 drivers have been going off the beaten track

'without permission and causing havoc.

'And they're so proud of themselves, they've even posted videos online.

'The films are like trophies, simply showing off.

'Make no mistake,

'this isn't just about taking a short cut over farmland.

'They're churning up the fields and creating deep ridges

'so they can really put their vehicles to the test.

'It might be a lot of fun for the drivers,

'but it completely ruins a rural idyll for dog walkers,

'cyclists and hikers.'

One man once stopped me and he said

that was the most frightening experience he's ever had,

to see these people coming like an army down the road at top speed...

..making an awful lot of noise. ENGINE REVS

He said it was really quite threatening.

There are lots of people that come down here and enjoy this spot.

I used to bring my daughter here for a picnic

and we'd sit down undisturbed. The spot was ruined.

It was just churned to mud, particularly on Saturday or Sunday,

the whole place was churned up. It was not nice.

'If this was in a town, it's like boy racers

'tearing up and down your street every weekend,

'ripping up tarmac and knocking down garden walls while they're at it.

'And what makes it all even worse

'is that this is the site of a major Roman settlement

'and the ancient remains are hidden just inches above the surface of the fields.'

You had a busy Roman main road,

it would've been like standing on the edge of the M1.

You'd have had the Roman houses and buildings.

Down there by the river, there was probably a mansio building,

which would've been like a Travelodge,

where people would've pulled up on their horses and stayed the night

and got everything they needed to refresh themselves

to go on with their onward journey. It would've been a busy place in Roman times.

'The 4x4s repeatedly splash into the river,

'seriously damaging the banks and the ruins underneath.

'Their large tyres dislodging and wearing away stone

'that's been there since Roman times.

'It's vandalism, pure and simple.'

Instead of going over a perfectly good bridge here,

they used to be going through the river and causing a lot of damage

to the riverbed and to the banks on either side.

And generally messing everything up, all the flora and fauna.

So it wouldn't just be the banks, it would be the wildlife as well

which would be badly affected.

'The site is considered to be of such national importance,

'it's listed as a scheduled monument,

'meaning it has extra protection legally. Not that the drivers care.'

The damage that was going on here was so serious

that in the South West, we made it one of our top-ten sites

on our Heritage At Risk register. Sites like this are irreplaceable.

If anything happens to it, any damage occurs to it,

that part of the site cannot be replaced.

The last thing we ought to see is parts of a site

being lost for no good reason at all, just by damage.

'At worst, a dozen vehicles meet up.

'But they sort of have a right to be there.

'The track down from the main road is a by-way.

'That means it's officially part of the road network and perfectly legal to drive along.

'But, as all the thousands of law-abiding 4x4 drivers out there know,

'you can't just leave the by-way and start tearing up the farmland,

'unless you've got the express permission of the landowner.

'Which, of course, this lot don't have.

'And the police simply don't have the resources to guard the whole area full-time.'

You can't really patrol it. There's no point me saying,

"I'm going to drive along the Fosse Way and hope to come across

"an off-road driver or off-road motorbikes."

I think you've got to hit points

and be in a position to intercept them as they come off or before they go on and deal with it that way.

'In such a rural location,

'the only person who can monitor the situation around the clock is the farmer.

'Robin Ingle has worked this land for nearly 40 years.'

When you came down here, if there was a Land Rover and they were where they shouldn't be

and you tried to go up once or twice to deal with the problem,

you very quickly worked out if there were four of them

and there was one of you and you're half a mile from anyone else,

you were in a fairly vulnerable situation.

I didn't make a habit of going up and confronting,

so you ended up feeling that the place wasn't your own anymore,

and I think a lot of locals felt the same way.

'With no let up in sight, all the authorities need to work together

'to find a way of protecting the Roman ruins, the farmland and the peaceful atmosphere.

'And that is far from simple.'

Everything that was done, someone would come back,

see it as another challenge to be overcome

and you'd come down one day and you'd find wheel marks all round the field again

and gates broken through.

'Will the offending off-roaders be stopped in their tracks

'before the ancient site is lost forever?

When it comes to anti-social behaviour,

few things hit closer to home than nuisance neighbours.

But what really stinks are the ones who can't even be bothered to put out their own rubbish.

'The tenants of this property in St Helens on Merseyside

'have left it in a filthy state.

'The back garden in particular might as well be a private landfill site.

'The place looks disgusting and you can easily imagine the foul smell.

'It's so unpleasant the neighbours on both sides have upped sticks and moved out.

'And that's where these two council crusaders come in.

'Glynn Griffiths and Chrissy Nevitt deal with these kinds of properties every day.

'She stamps out anti-social behaviour,

'and he focuses on environmental health.'

The type of issues that I deal with are accumulations of domestic waste

on private property that give rise to odour or are attractive for vermin,

rats and mice.

Pest control teams are working flat out trying to keep on top of it.

'The tenants at this particular property

'have been causing all sorts of problems in the neighbourhood for some time.'

We're at this address today

with a long-standing anti-social behaviour problem,

noise nuisance, drinking, fighting.

Erm, the tenant was issued an eviction notice by the landlord

and has now vacated the property,

leaving behind a lot of rubbish, an accumulation of mess in the back yard.

'Although the house is owned by a private landlord,

'the place has become such a dangerous health hazard, it's down to the council to sort it out.

'Glynn has obtained a warrant to clear out the garden.

'Although he witnesses scenes like this week in, week out,

'he still can't understand how anyone can let things get this bad.'

Well, people say they're living like this, but is it living or is it existing?

It's just not acceptable. That is the ideal place for vermin to be.

The food's just... There's some nappies floating around.

Again, Tennent's Super, White Lightning.

Chaotic lifestyle.

This property is pretty disgusting. It's not very clean at all.

The tenants have left and they look like they've pretty much left everything behind.

And as you can see from the back yard, it's full of rubbish.

'You've got to feel sorry for the guys who have to clean this up.

'And it's heartbreaking for the people who rented the place out in good faith.'

-All right?

-No, not really, but there you go.

Can you understand how anybody can live like this? Nor can I.

They've filled bin bags full of rubbish and just thrown them in the yard.

They've not made any attempt to get rid of them

through the normal channels. It just makes me puke.

'The contractors have got their work cut out clearing this rotten mess.

'And as they remove more and more layers of putrid waste,

'Glynn's suspicions about rats are confirmed.'

Any sort of shredded material,

it's a good indicator that there's been vermin activity in there.

The bedding, it's shredded up for bedding, for nesting, for vermin.

And with all the food stuffs that were lying around, it is the perfect environment for a rodent population.

'This is bang in the middle of a residential area.

'And I think we all know the rats aren't just going to scurry around just one garden.

'No wonder the neighbours moved out.

'And inside the house, things are no better.

'It's been left a total tip.'

Totally and utterly disgusting. How anybody can live in these conditions is totally and utterly beyond me.

It really is. They're living like animals, basically.

You know, it's just the way they live, I don't know...

It's beyond me totally.

'Sadly, these squalid conditions and the stench that goes with them aren't uncommon.

'Chrissy and Glynn deal with properties like this all the time.

'And at each location,

'neighbours' lives are being blighted every time they look out of the window.

'One local resident, who didn't want to be identified,

'knows only too well just what it's like to live next door to a neighbour's filthy lifestyle.'

There's been, like, vermin coming into the garden and everything,

you know, and the people living there used to get friends in the garden

and you'd tell them to turn the music down and they'd give you abuse, and all this lot,

and, you know, you could just do without it.

'It's clear that these inconsiderate residents are creating a living hell for everyone in the community.'

There's no justification for what they've done.

The council provide a weekly bin collection service.

All you've got to do is take your bin and make it available for collection.

And it takes... It's done for you.

'And in this case, the contractors have done all the hard work.

'The garden is transformed and no longer a retreat for rats.

'But you won't be surprised to hear, these big clean-up operations don't come cheap.

'Several hundred pounds a time.

'But Chrissy is determined taxpayers' money won't foot the bill for such anti-social behaviour.'

The people who are responsible for leaving all the rubbish in the back yard there,

they're not living too far away from here, so I'm being told,

so that is something that we can take a look at in tracking them down.

If they are where I think they are, then the bill will go to them at that address.

Anti-social behaviour is about a lack of human decency and disrespect for people around you.

And if someone's way of life is making yours a misery,

well, that's about as anti-social as it gets.

But lucky enough for you and me, there are plenty of people out there that we can turn to.

'And this series is their chance to shine.

'We're on the front line with the highly-skilled teams of council workers, police officers

'and local volunteers who are committed to keeping our streets safe and clean

'and taking on our anti-social battles on a daily basis,

'to make sure that our lives are not blighted by other people's bad behaviour.'

This is Street Patrol UK.

'Over in Essex, Peter Bond is at the end of his tether

'over dog owners not picking up their pets' poo left in front of his home.'

If you want to live in a sewer, go and live in a sewer. Don't turn every place you go to into a sewer.

'Dog warden Alan East and council officer Darren Weaver

'are acting on information about one particular incident

'and are about to confront a dog owner.

'If the dog owner accepts the evidence put to him,

'Alan has the authority to issue an on-the-spot fine of £50.

'If the owner is found to be guilty and refuses to pay the fine,

'the case would then go to court and the owner could face

'the much heftier fine of £1,000.'

I've got witnesses that have witnessed you letting your dog foul.

-And I picked it up.

-No, it's still there.

'The dog owner may be camera shy but he's invited Alan inside to discuss the incident.

'After approximately 15 minutes behind closed doors,

'Alan's back on the street with the owner's side of the story.'

The chap explained that he'd been away on holiday

and his friend had been looking after his dog

and it was his friend that had let the dog defecate.

He fully accepted responsibility for it.

I've given him a fixed penalty notice of £50

for failing to clear up after his dog,

for which he has said that he will now pay for that

for the offence that was committed.

This is a very small community. The word will spread.

And even if it makes one or two or three people more aware

and stop them letting their dog defecate on the floor, we've had a result, haven't we?

'You certainly have, Darren.

'With the owner taking the penalty on the chin, it's a good job done.

'And with the natural beauty of the area once more restored

'beyond the pristine beach,

'we'll have at least one happy couple breathing a huge sigh of relief.'

The tricky thing about anti-social behaviour

is that some things might seem trivial at first.

But when they keep happening day after day,

that's when they really start to grind on you

because you feel powerless to make it stop.

That is exactly when you need to stand up and say, "Enough is enough."

'Back in Wiltshire, the problem of groups of reckless 4x4 drivers

'tearing up farmland and an important Roman settlement

'has been going on for 20 years.

'Churning up fields,

'smashing through fences and breaking down river banks.

'The drivers have no consideration of the damage

'and bedlam they're bringing to a local beauty spot.

'Access to the site is from a by-way, and since that's part of the road network,

'the drivers have a right to use it.

'But the landowner and the county council

'desperately need to stop the vehicles

'deliberately veering off-road.'

So we started off by putting some minor boulders

on the side of the river here, on the riverbank.

That didn't do the trick completely. They still managed to push some over.

'The next step is to plant some hefty wooden posts into the ground

'along the edge of the by-way to restrict access to the fields.

'But the posts are simply smashed down by the 4x4s.

'The council, though, is determined.'

We took various measures to try and limit the areas that vehicles go to

and particularly try to prevent them going into the river

where most of the damage was being done, so we did things like

put a whole string of dragon's teeth along the riverbank.

Unfortunately, that didn't work

because they were moved out of the way.

Certainly the council initially put a lot of money into oak gates,

padlocks. Everything that was done,

someone would come back, see it as another challenge to be overcome.

And you'd come down one day and you'd find

wheel marks all round the field again

and gates broken through.

'Thousands of pounds have been spent

'to curb the drivers' anti-social behaviour.

'But all it's done is lead to more destruction.

'Drastic action is needed. The county council has no option

'but to try closing the by-way permanently.

'That should stop all vehicle access.

'That's right, the anti-social behaviour means everyone loses out,

'including the law-abiding public.

'Special reinforced steel gates now block either end of the track.

'And they alone cost another £2,000.'

It's the strong steel gates that have been put at either end

which actually stop the vehicles from coming through.

There are side gates where walkers and motorbikes can come through.

But they don't cause any damage, of course.

The gates have proved, so far, very effective.

I think and hope that the message has got back that they mean business

and they are going to protect this site.

It's been very successful.

For me, agriculturally, it's been great.

You can relax now more with the stock here.

The heritage site, I don't think we've had a single vehicle

leave tyre marks across it since these new gates were put in.

Now we've sorted out the problem with the damage,

hopefully we can now spend more effort into understanding what the site is about

and trying to get researchers interested in undertaking surveys

so that we can really fully flesh out what is here, the extent of it.

And that will also help us to inform better management in the future.

'With the rogue drivers now unable to access the site,

'work can start on saving the parts of the Roman ruins that have been unearthed.'

Over here you can see the fencing that we've put up,

after we've raised the level of the ground surface

to protect the archaeological remains underneath.

Over the other side of the river, you can see that we've got limestone blocks that were put in place.

And those have been put in on either side of the river.

And that's in order to stabilise the new soil we've put down,

but also hopefully to prevent vehicles from going in the river in the way that they did before.

It's wonderful to see it now with the grass beginning to grow over the top of the infill

that's been done to protect the site and to see the interpretation boards up,

because by understanding our heritage, people come to care for it and then want to help protect it.

'In total, all this work cost an incredible £30,000 of public money.

'But finally, after two decades, the problem has been solved

'and the beautiful historic site can now be enjoyed for generations to come.

'But that's a huge amount of money,

'and if it hadn't been for anti-social behaviour,

'it could've been put to good use elsewhere.'

Since we've filmed with our anti-social saviours,

we've got some updates for you.

'In the case of the couple with a cannabis factory discovered in their garage in Essex,

'John Tone pleaded guilty of being concerned in the supply of cannabis

'and possessing cannabis with intent.

'And his partner, Elaine Croft, admitted to the police

'that she has been supplying the drug to a relative on a small scale.

'They appeared at St Alban's Crown Court where the judge told them,

'"You are both old enough to know better."

'Elaine Croft was given a 12-month supervision order,

'together with 150 hours unpaid work,

'and John Tone was given a 12-month conditional discharge.

'Neither of the offenders had been in trouble before.'

I think, ultimately, it has been a good success for the team.

Off the back of a simple traffic stop, we've uncovered a factory producing a large amount of drugs.

The best way to look at it is the fact that we've potentially taken £50,000 worth of cannabis per year

off the streets, which is a great result for us and for the community.

'In the story of the garden clearance undertaken by St Helens Council...'

It's been a few weeks since we cleared the garden. It's a great result.

It was a disgusting mess. We're really happy with the result.

The tenants have now relocated

and we've been able to find where they are, we've tracked them.

So the bill will go to that address. So the ratepayer of St Helens won't have to pay for it.

So we're really happy with the result.

'And when it comes to the dog poo story in Essex,

'two weeks after fining a dog owner,

'dog warden Alan was on patrol near the Bonds' house

'and who should he spot walking a dog?'

Yeah, the chap we've just seen is the offender

that was issued two weeks ago with a fixed penalty ticket

for allowing his dog to defecate and not clean up after him.

He looks as though we had a bag with him, which means then he would actually clean up after his dog,

which is good.

Seeing him with a poo bag makes me very happy.

That's your lot for today. See you next time.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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