:00:26. > :00:32.Every day, a never-ending war is being waged across Britain to clean
:00:32. > :00:36.up our towns and countryside. laziness. Just the general attitude
:00:37. > :00:41.is disgraceful. The fact is not on their doorstep makes it all right.
:00:41. > :00:47.If we made them clean it up, it would make them think twice. From
:00:47. > :00:52.the tonnes of cigarette butts, dogs' mess and household rubbish to
:00:52. > :00:57.tyres and builders' waste... Small minded people and it ruins it for
:00:57. > :01:04.everybody. No respect for the countryside. We are on the
:01:04. > :01:08.frontline of the clear-up and the fightback. With a dedicated team
:01:08. > :01:13.tracking down the rogues and putting the "Great" back into
:01:13. > :01:17."Britain". It may harm your defence if you fail to mention...
:01:17. > :01:22.today's programme, the amazing story of modern-day graffiti
:01:22. > :01:29.taggers caught by good old- fashioned detective work. It was
:01:29. > :01:34.the spray paint all over their fingers and cuffs of their sleeves.
:01:34. > :01:41.And the fight to rid Bexhill's beaches of dreaded dog doo. As you
:01:41. > :01:47.can see on the red area, in the summer between May and September,
:01:47. > :01:52.dogs are not allowed on the beach at all. All that and Britain's
:01:52. > :01:56.filthiest road. I don't think there was any rougher place in the
:01:56. > :02:06.country than what this was. Welcome to the world of Filthy Rotten
:02:06. > :02:16.
:02:16. > :02:20.First, we are in neath in South Wales. It's in a great location
:02:20. > :02:25.surrounded by beautiful countryside and it's only a ten-minute drive
:02:25. > :02:32.from the coast. But the whole area suffers from that old familiar
:02:32. > :02:36.scourge - fly-tipping. I think it's an eyesore. It's also not very nice
:02:36. > :02:43.for the people of the community who have to see the mess that's been
:02:43. > :02:46.created around the area. They should give them a heavy fine.
:02:46. > :02:50.giving my hometown a bad reputation. So there is plenty of local pride
:02:50. > :03:00.here. And at the forefront of keeping that pride alive is a
:03:00. > :03:02.
:03:02. > :03:06.dedicated team of local lads. Meet Leyton, Paul, Lyndon, Phil and Carl.
:03:06. > :03:10.They are the waste enforcement team at Neath and Port Talbot Borough
:03:10. > :03:14.Council. It's their job to track down and prosecute anyone making a
:03:14. > :03:19.mess of this lovely area. We are going out on the road with the team
:03:19. > :03:24.and it is a busy job. Every day, there are more reports to
:03:25. > :03:28.investigate. First up, we are with team leader, Leyton. Today, he's
:03:28. > :03:35.off to investigate a huge pile of rubbish that's just been dumped at
:03:35. > :03:40.the side of the road. We are off to a dumping site now, a known hotspot
:03:40. > :03:45.for fly-tipping. This is a pretty well-used road. It leads to the
:03:45. > :03:49.local scrapyard, if you like. It tends to be subject to pretty
:03:49. > :03:53.regular fly-tipping. People go to the scrapyard and they weigh in
:03:53. > :03:57.what they can and they fly-tip the rest. The rest of the team are
:03:57. > :04:01.already on site with the unenviable task of sifting through this
:04:01. > :04:06.massive pile of rubbish in search of any clue as to who might have
:04:06. > :04:09.dumped it. Found anything? No? Nothing? Just look at this. It's a
:04:09. > :04:14.huge pile of building waste that looks like the remains of some
:04:14. > :04:19.major house renovation dumped by a mean and selfish rogue who probably
:04:19. > :04:29.thought no-one would see him on this secluded lane. Appalling!
:04:29. > :04:35.is a mess, boys. Terrible. There's nappies and all sorts. Urgh, dirty
:04:35. > :04:41.nappies?! How many doors is that? One, two, three, four? Look at that,
:04:41. > :04:44.a bath! Looks like it might have been a jacuzzi. It's a dirty job,
:04:44. > :04:48.cardboard and carpet and the remains of the tipper's
:04:48. > :04:54.refreshments. Finally, a clue that at least helps pinpoint when this
:04:54. > :04:58.lot was dumped. I have found a newspaper dated 28th July, so it is
:04:58. > :05:02.fairly recent the stuff. Five men and an hour of digging, but
:05:02. > :05:06.Leyton's boys are drawing a blank. But hope springs eternal in the
:05:06. > :05:16.heart of the enforcement officer. The most mundane of items, any
:05:16. > :05:22.scrap of paper could hold a vital clue. Receipts and maybe get
:05:22. > :05:24.footage of them in the shop buying the things that's tipped in the
:05:24. > :05:30.waste... There could still be something underneath. Well put,
:05:30. > :05:33.Carl. The newest recruit to the team and brimming with optimism.
:05:33. > :05:36.You would have thought you would have found one thing. People are
:05:36. > :05:40.starting to wise up. Devious dumpers are getting rid of any
:05:40. > :05:45.evidence before they tip. There is nothing here that could help the
:05:45. > :05:49.lads prosecute this filthy rotter. Off to the next one now. Thanks,
:05:49. > :05:56.lads. So, sadly, it is the council who will have to foot the bill of
:05:56. > :06:02.getting rid of this lot. You are looking at between �500 and �1,000
:06:02. > :06:06.maybe. Annoyed. Frustrated. Like I say, we usually manage to find
:06:07. > :06:10.something within most illegal dumps. But there is no time to be
:06:10. > :06:14.downhearted. On to another job and this time we are out with Phil.
:06:14. > :06:21.He's been an enforcement officer for almost six years. Today, he's
:06:21. > :06:25.on the case of a fly-tipper they have managed to identify. We are in
:06:25. > :06:31.the Neath Valley where we had a complaint that a householder, a
:06:31. > :06:35.lady, a tenant, had put a three- piece suite out in the rear lane so
:06:35. > :06:38.it was just staying there. She told us she made arrangements with the
:06:39. > :06:46.council to take it away. We found out that no such arrangement had
:06:46. > :06:50.been made so a notice was served on her giving her 15 days to remove it.
:06:50. > :06:55.Her 15 days are up and unless she's shifted her sofa, she will be
:06:55. > :06:59.booking herself an appointment with the local judge. Nothing has
:06:59. > :07:06.changed. This is the three-piece suite concerned. This is as it was
:07:06. > :07:10.weeks ago. There's been no attempt to move it. Now, it's the afternoon
:07:10. > :07:14.nap site for the local kittens. It's annoying and frustrating for
:07:14. > :07:20.Phil. The woman knows she will end up in court but she has not
:07:20. > :07:24.bothered to get herself out of the firing line. This case is quite
:07:24. > :07:28.rare in the fact that we have had an admission that the lady has put
:07:28. > :07:35.it there, we have phoned her a few times and tried to reason with her.
:07:35. > :07:38.At this stage, it's not going to be removed. So she's about to force
:07:38. > :07:43.our hand. It will be a fine and any costs we have incurred in preparing
:07:43. > :07:47.the case as well. Next job, we are out with Paul and Carl. Paul, in
:07:47. > :07:51.the passenger seat, has been on the job for five years. Now Carl might
:07:51. > :07:56.be in the driving seat but he's the new boy on the block, joining just
:07:56. > :08:06.six months ago. They make a good team. In fact, they look spookily
:08:06. > :08:06.
:08:06. > :08:11.like one another. Oh! This is Aberavon, this is the hotspot. From
:08:11. > :08:14.here down, you see there are gated lanes. The theory is with the
:08:15. > :08:18.alleys gated off, only the residents who back on to them can
:08:19. > :08:23.use them keeping them cleaner and safer. But it doesn't always work
:08:23. > :08:32.that way. So now the alleys are part of Paul and Carl's routine
:08:32. > :08:42.checks. OK, we have a classic Aberavon lane now. It was cleaned
:08:42. > :08:47.on Tuesday and you will see what we are up against. Open sesame! It is
:08:47. > :08:51.no Aladdin's cave. The place is strewn with litter. Someone has put
:08:51. > :08:57.their bag out late. Nine times out of ten the seagulls come down, rip
:08:57. > :09:07.open the bags and it is scattered. There's the bag. It's been ripped
:09:07. > :09:08.
:09:08. > :09:12.open. The bag gets blown away. seagulls, cats, dogs... The tipsy
:09:12. > :09:15.tripper! Cause of many an environmental hazard. And there's
:09:15. > :09:20.more. The worst possible thing a waste enforcement officer can
:09:20. > :09:26.witness - the thing they all dread - a bag where someone's mixed
:09:26. > :09:31.recycling with regular waste! Don't look directly at it, guys. This bag,
:09:31. > :09:35.as you can see, is plastic with paper. So it wouldn't have been
:09:35. > :09:43.collected as it is contaminated. Overcoming their inate fear they
:09:43. > :09:48.search for clues as to who might have committed this heinous crimes.
:09:48. > :09:52.Not one address. This time, the arch villain gets away with it. I
:09:52. > :09:56.am being cheeky, but the truth is that it is exactly this kind of
:09:56. > :10:01.thing that messes up the place for everyone else. We will take this
:10:01. > :10:05.home with us rather than sending the boys back. Direct action and
:10:05. > :10:12.problem solved. We will be back with the boys later on their
:10:12. > :10:18.relentless quest to tidy up Wales. Now for a story that would have the
:10:18. > :10:22.Fat Controller up in arms. It's a problem that causes massive delays
:10:22. > :10:27.and countless cancellations across the rail network. Yet it's not ice
:10:27. > :10:32.on the track or the wrong kind of leaves. This is a story where the
:10:32. > :10:37.pen is mightier than the weather. We are talking tagging. To you and
:10:37. > :10:43.me it is graffiti. To some kids, it is art. It costs millions every
:10:43. > :10:45.year to clean up. It's a big problem. It costs us �3.5 million
:10:45. > :10:51.every year to clear it up. We should be spending that elsewhere
:10:51. > :10:57.on the network. It is not just a case of elbow grease to get the
:10:57. > :11:02.paint off the trains. This is one of our main cleaning rows at
:11:02. > :11:09.Bedford Train Care Depot. We have a unit that's been graffitied
:11:09. > :11:12.recently. As you can see, you have some residual paint damage. The
:11:12. > :11:17.vinyl has been damaged here and paint work's been damaged. So what
:11:17. > :11:22.we have got to do, we will have to replace all the external vinyl, the
:11:22. > :11:29.livery, on this train. That will cost us �37,000 to do this one
:11:29. > :11:36.coach. What?! �37,000 for one single coach? That's more than the
:11:36. > :11:40.average annual wage. A lot more! I am gobsmacked and with 20,000 miles
:11:40. > :11:46.of tracks, 2,500 stations and thousands of bridges and tunnels,
:11:46. > :11:50.the network is one giant canvas. Graffiti doesn't have a place on
:11:50. > :11:53.the railway. It makes people feel unsafe. It makes people think the
:11:53. > :11:58.infrastructure is not being looked after. It is unacceptable. In the
:11:58. > :12:01.eyes of the law, it is a crime. Let's call them what they are -
:12:01. > :12:06.they are criminals. They are committing a crime. If they are
:12:06. > :12:15.trespassing, they risk a fine of �1,000. As John knows only too well,
:12:15. > :12:19.a fine is the least of the vandals' worries. At Cricklewood Depot, we
:12:19. > :12:23.had a graffiti attack there and a train was fully coated with paint.
:12:23. > :12:26.Unfortunately, the graffiti artist got hit by the paint as it left the
:12:26. > :12:32.depot. In that occasion, the graffiti artist was killed
:12:32. > :12:36.undertaking what he was doing. The risks are really real. It's a
:12:36. > :12:44.terrible story and it makes it more surprising that vandals would
:12:44. > :12:49.strike in the dead of night. This is a tale of modern tagging caught
:12:49. > :12:53.by good old-fashioned detective work. It started with a nightshift
:12:53. > :12:58.for PC Bevan of Cambridgeshire Police. This is the middle of no-
:12:58. > :13:02.where and this car was parked up by the bridge. A parked car in a lay-
:13:02. > :13:06.by? I bet we are all thinking the same thing! Could be a couple
:13:06. > :13:11.necking, who knows. We better check it out. So we stopped. Had a look
:13:11. > :13:17.at the car. Nobody with it. It was unusual that it had spray paint
:13:17. > :13:21.cans in the footwell which I thought was strange. So ran some
:13:21. > :13:27.checks via the police computers, all come back OK, all insured,
:13:27. > :13:32.taxed, MoTed. So we thought we would head into the village. Later
:13:32. > :13:37.the same night, he came across the car again and this time the driver
:13:37. > :13:43.and his mate were inside. PC Bevan checked their ID. All fine. But
:13:43. > :13:48.there was something not quite right. It was the spray paint all over
:13:48. > :13:54.their fingers and cuffs of their sleeves, and even on the shoes.
:13:54. > :13:59.much for the theory of a lovers' tryst, there was something more
:13:59. > :14:04.suspicious going on. The story they were giving us changed a few times.
:14:04. > :14:08.It started with, "I have picked him up because he's had a row with his
:14:08. > :14:12.girlfriend." So lovers' tiff as opposed to lovers' tryst. Well,
:14:12. > :14:17.their story just kept changing. Then it changed to, "We have come
:14:17. > :14:21.from Cambridge where we were muralling a legal graffiti site."
:14:21. > :14:25.So two or three different stories. It kept changing. It wasn't enough
:14:25. > :14:29.to go on but PC Bevan had a hunch about this case. He got the boys'
:14:29. > :14:35.details and returned to where he found the car. When we pulled up at
:14:35. > :14:39.the bridge and opened the car doors, we could smell paint, solvent, so
:14:39. > :14:44.we looked around with torches, looking in bushes, and came across
:14:45. > :14:50.a rucksack that had been left abandoned, not wet, so it had been
:14:50. > :14:54.there only a short time. That rucksack contained spray paint cans,
:14:54. > :14:59.a digital camera which we had a quick look on and had pictures of
:14:59. > :15:09.graffiti on them, black woolly hats, gloves, pens, markers. We explored
:15:09. > :15:12.further down the embankment and the inside of the bridge was full of
:15:12. > :15:18.graffiti. Bevan alerted the British Transport Police. A couple of days
:15:18. > :15:23.later he received a call. I got a call from an officer from London
:15:23. > :15:27.who was very interested in the males that we had stopped and also
:15:27. > :15:33.the tags on the cameras and the piece of paper that I had seized
:15:33. > :15:38.off them which was Kush, which was the tag. Kush by name, not so
:15:38. > :15:41.cushty by nature! These boys had form and their tag was already
:15:41. > :15:46.known. Sergeant Tubbs at the British Transport Police was on the
:15:46. > :15:50.case. We had been looking at patterns of criminal damage in the
:15:50. > :15:54.area of Cambridge and one of the tags that was found to have been
:15:54. > :15:58.sprayed on the railway bridge that night was significant to us.
:15:58. > :16:01.Sergeant Tubbs had seen the tag before on railway property and was
:16:01. > :16:06.already hunting the vandal. His hopes were raised when PC Bevan
:16:06. > :16:13.told him the boys had green spray paint on their fingers the night
:16:13. > :16:17.they had seen them. It was like a paint swach, a perfect match to
:16:17. > :16:20.some graffiti on a train carriage in the area. There had been
:16:20. > :16:24.reported damage at the Cambridge sidings which is not far from where
:16:24. > :16:27.the two had said they had been painting on the legal graffiti wall.
:16:27. > :16:32.The paint on their clothes was a dead giveaway, it was the same as
:16:32. > :16:41.the paint on the trains and enough to arrest the boys and search their
:16:41. > :16:45.homes. We managed to retrieve clothing with paint on, balaclavas,
:16:45. > :16:49.gloves, graffiti spray cans. The general tools that a graffiti
:16:49. > :16:54.vandal would use to commit crime. Incredible! They hadn't thought of,
:16:54. > :16:59.well, covering their tracks. The green paint had already linked them
:16:59. > :17:04.to one night of vandalism, what the team found next would provide vital
:17:04. > :17:08.evidence to another crime. This picture was taken from one of the
:17:08. > :17:11.suspect's walls. This newspaper cutting here is a press release
:17:12. > :17:16.from the local police asking for information for criminal damage
:17:16. > :17:20.that had been done to a hotel building in Cambridge city centre.
:17:20. > :17:24.They were saying vandals had climbed high up on to the hotel and
:17:24. > :17:28.dubbed three tags. So proud of their own work, these boys couldn't
:17:28. > :17:33.help but keep a newspaper article about it. They were collecting
:17:33. > :17:38.their own evidence! This to me represents memorabilia, a trophy,
:17:38. > :17:43.which the vandal would keep in his home to celebrate that he's got
:17:43. > :17:51.some sort of attention regarding the damage he's caused. I think
:17:51. > :17:55.it's one of their flaws. They keep evidence and they do make our job
:17:55. > :17:59.easier because once we recover the materials, they really do put
:17:59. > :18:04.themselves in the crime. The boys hadn't just been collecting their
:18:04. > :18:09.own evidence, their stash of photos implicated a notorious graffiti
:18:09. > :18:15.vandal known to the police as Mr Big who until now, had remained at
:18:15. > :18:20.large. That tag was Big which is quite a dominant tag in Cambridge
:18:20. > :18:24.at the moment, or certainly was. Big's days of tagging were over too
:18:24. > :18:29.and all three were about to get the attention they deserved. The boys
:18:29. > :18:34.might have dreamed of being Banksy, but in reality they were bang to
:18:34. > :18:38.rights! The evidence against them was overwhelming. As much as they
:18:38. > :18:44.wanted to try and defend themselves from all these crimes, they had no
:18:44. > :18:48.choice but to plead guilty because the evidence that they had was
:18:48. > :18:54.significant enough for them to plead guilty at court. And guilty
:18:54. > :18:58.they were. The three of them were handed a whopping 6 50 hours of
:18:58. > :19:08.community service and ordered to pay over �6,000 towards the clean-
:19:08. > :19:11.
:19:11. > :19:20.up of their handiwork. That is what Now, we all hate litter and we all
:19:20. > :19:23.really hate graffiti, but what we all really, really hate is this...
:19:23. > :19:28.But I found somewhere where you can stroll free from worry about where
:19:28. > :19:35.you are treading. Where the air is fresh and the pavements look like
:19:35. > :19:40.this. Welcome to the beautiful, the fragrant, the spotless Bexhill-on-
:19:40. > :19:45.Sea in East Sussex. It wasn't always like this. Rother Council
:19:45. > :19:48.used to get lots of complaints about dog poo on the promenade.
:19:48. > :19:53.don't like it when other people leave dog excrement around. It
:19:53. > :19:57.gives dog owners a bad name. As a dog owner, you tend to be tarred
:19:57. > :20:05.with the same brush. That is unfair. So I think I get very cross with
:20:05. > :20:10.dog owners who don't clear up. dog owners were getting fed up. So
:20:10. > :20:15.they brought in this man, Robin Emery, environment enforcement
:20:15. > :20:19.officer, a former policeman and dog owner. Dog fouling is a particular
:20:19. > :20:24.problem. It's something that upsets the public a lot. It's very
:20:24. > :20:29.annoying. I'm a dog owner myself. I'm a responsible dog owner so I
:20:29. > :20:35.don't take kindly to people who let their dogs mess and walk on and
:20:35. > :20:41.leave it for somebody else to step in. So how did Bexhill turn around
:20:41. > :20:45.its foul fortunes? Well, quite simple. It banned dogs. OK, I'm
:20:45. > :20:50.exaggerating. What it did do was restrict where dogs could go during
:20:50. > :20:55.the summer. We are on Bexhill seafront and this is controlled in
:20:56. > :21:02.the summer months by local dog control orders. There is one of the
:21:02. > :21:07.signs. On the red area here, in the summer between May and September,
:21:07. > :21:13.dogs are not allowed on the beach at all. Simple and effective. In
:21:13. > :21:18.most other places dogs have to be kept on a lead. Today, Robin's on
:21:18. > :21:21.pooch patrol on the prom making sure everyone knows that rules is
:21:21. > :21:25.rules. If we see anybody contravening any of the regulations,
:21:25. > :21:29.I have a fixed penalty book and I can issue a fixed penalty notice
:21:29. > :21:33.which will cost them �50, if they pay it straightaway. �75 if they
:21:33. > :21:39.are late in paying. If they don't pay it and challenge it, we can
:21:39. > :21:44.take them to court where they can get a fine of �1,000. Ouch! That is
:21:44. > :21:48.enough to give you PAWS for thought! This message is getting
:21:48. > :21:51.through to the local dog walkers. This is just about the local dog
:21:51. > :21:55.control orders in the summer time. You have your dog on a lead, so
:21:55. > :22:00.that is not a problem. Also the dogs aren't allowed on the beach.
:22:00. > :22:04.know. That's fine. You are aware... Thank you very much. You know about
:22:04. > :22:10.the local dog control orders in the summer time? Yes, only certain
:22:10. > :22:16.parts of the beach. That's it. 54 to 77. Yeah. All right. Thank you
:22:16. > :22:23.ever so much. Thank you for your time. It's 54, up by the Sovereign
:22:23. > :22:26.Light Cafe and then up to 77 which is up... You can go further over?
:22:26. > :22:33.You can. See how brilliantly this scheme is working, all the people
:22:33. > :22:36.Robin is talking to know the rules and crucially no-one's complaining.
:22:36. > :22:42.There's lots of responsible dog owners who know where to have the
:22:42. > :22:46.dogs on lead and where not to. There are still some who don't.
:22:46. > :22:53.Well, there will always be some filthy rotten dog owners who refuse
:22:53. > :22:57.to scoop the poop. But there's really though excuse. One of the
:22:57. > :23:02.other things the council has done is to put in extra bins for dog
:23:02. > :23:08.waste. There's one every 70 metres, all the way along the seafront and
:23:08. > :23:12.they are emptied every day. What a service! Everyone's a winner.
:23:12. > :23:20.Nobody likes the job of picking up dog waste. For me, personally, and
:23:20. > :23:23.my team, it is the worst job. Since the dog bins have been put down
:23:23. > :23:29.here on the promenade, there's been quite a transformation in the
:23:29. > :23:32.amount we are not clearing up. what exactly does quite a
:23:32. > :23:36.transformation mean? Well, since this scheme started at the
:23:36. > :23:41.beginning of the summer, it has been a four-legged runaway success.
:23:41. > :23:45.Since then, we have had no reported incidents of dog fouling on the
:23:45. > :23:52.esplanade. Not a single complaint about dog poo, what a result! Man's
:23:52. > :23:56.best friend is just that again at Bexhill. Now, everyone likes to be
:23:56. > :24:00.beside the seaside! We are out on the road again in
:24:00. > :24:06.South Wales with the Fab Five. Waste enforcers dedicated to
:24:06. > :24:11.keeping the place clean and tidy. Our next job is with Lyndon who is
:24:11. > :24:15.checking out a report about a mattress just dumped on the
:24:15. > :24:20.pavement. There is nothing more rewarding than catching a serial
:24:20. > :24:24.fly-tipper and so they get their comeuppance in court. Lyndon is a
:24:24. > :24:29.man with a passion. He lives and works here and genuinely cares
:24:29. > :24:34.about the area. I live in the village just outside Swansea so I
:24:34. > :24:38.travel in so I come to the area with my children, so it's pretty
:24:38. > :24:44.much a two-pronged thing for me. I want to keep the area tidy for the
:24:44. > :24:50.residents and for my children to enjoy it, too. We have come to pick
:24:50. > :24:54.up the routine call. As I have driven into the street, next to the
:24:54. > :24:58.Mermaid's Fish and Chip Shop, there has been a bed mattress dumped.
:24:58. > :25:03.Looks an old mattress. I was up here yesterday, it wasn't here, so
:25:03. > :25:07.we will have a look at this. That's going to have to be removed quite
:25:07. > :25:12.quickly. It is next to the fish and chip shop. So if somebody sets fire
:25:12. > :25:17.to that, we will have some problems. It is hard to miss and more than
:25:17. > :25:20.just a trip hazard. Who would just dump this at the side of the road?
:25:20. > :25:25.Eagle-eyed Lyndon has spotted something that might give him the
:25:25. > :25:29.lead he needs. I don't know if you can see, there's a camera, I'm
:25:29. > :25:34.hoping we will get CCTV of the offender depositing the mattress.
:25:34. > :25:38.He is straight on to the case. I love this man's enthusiasm. But he
:25:38. > :25:44.will have to contain himself a bit longer. I have spoken to the lady,
:25:44. > :25:49.the manager has got access to the CCTV. He's not going to be in until
:25:49. > :25:53.2.00. So I have left my card with her. He's going to ring me at 2.00
:25:53. > :25:58.and I will pop up and have a good look at it. Fingers crossed the
:25:58. > :26:01.cameras come up trumps for Lyndon. There is nothing like a bit of sea
:26:01. > :26:06.air of rooting around in rubbish, but this is no stop for a paddle
:26:06. > :26:10.and an ice-cream for Paul and Carl. Just like in Bexhill-on-Sea, dogs
:26:10. > :26:16.aren't allowed on the beach in peak season. Unlike at Bexhill, not
:26:16. > :26:21.everyone is so well trained. We did do some of the beaches yesterday.
:26:21. > :26:25.There is another reason for enforcing the rules. Aberavon beach
:26:25. > :26:29.has Blue Flag Korean beach status, something they treasure and
:26:29. > :26:33.obviously want to preserve -- clean beach status, something they
:26:33. > :26:37.treasure and obviously want to preserve. Shame about that blot on
:26:37. > :26:41.the landscape - they call it England! You cheeker
:26:41. > :26:48.whippersnapper! I think I deserved that after my weather comment.
:26:48. > :26:52.lot of people don't take any notice of the signs. Cute and fluffy pet
:26:53. > :27:02.pooches maybe, but if they are going to threaten Aberavon's Blue
:27:03. > :27:04.
:27:04. > :27:11.Flag status Paul and Carl need to keep up their dog patrols. I can't
:27:11. > :27:17.see much, Carl. No dogs on the beach. All clear. All clear.
:27:17. > :27:21.dogs? No dog owners? This must be the quietest day of the year. I
:27:21. > :27:27.don't envy the ice-cream van man today. At least a Blue Flag status
:27:27. > :27:30.is safe. Back with Lyndon in Neath, the highest law in the land has
:27:30. > :27:34.complained because local residents have been putting their rubbish
:27:34. > :27:39.over the road at the courthouse instead of outside their own homes.
:27:39. > :27:44.The court pays commercial rates to get rubbish removed so they say
:27:44. > :27:47.their neighbours are costing them dearly. We have had evidence from
:27:47. > :27:50.them relating to one of the properties opposite so we will call
:27:50. > :27:53.to the property now and have a chat with them. But the residents say
:27:53. > :27:57.they are trying to be helpful, putting their rubbish where there
:27:57. > :28:02.are already big bins instead of cluttering up the narrow pavements
:28:02. > :28:05.outside their houses. So Lyndon's been called in to do a bit of door
:28:05. > :28:11.knocking. I have had a complaint regarding waste being presented in
:28:11. > :28:14.the car park or outside... Tell us where we are supposed to put our
:28:14. > :28:17.bags. Outside your property. sounds like Lyndon is the one
:28:17. > :28:23.getting the telling off! present them outside of your
:28:23. > :28:27.property. Yeah. Who will clean them up... We will remove them on your
:28:27. > :28:31.designated day. That is where the binmen came so I thought it would
:28:31. > :28:34.be easier for them to pick them up from there. It's been taken by
:28:34. > :28:41.their commercial... Hang on, there's someone else who wants a
:28:41. > :28:46.word, too! Do you put yours over there? Yes. All the drunks will
:28:46. > :28:49.kick them. Yes, what's been happening... That's what we do.
:28:49. > :28:53.When the rubbish gets kicked all over the road, the council will
:28:53. > :28:56.have to clean it up. I appreciate that. We can't have waste presented
:28:56. > :29:01.within the commercial waste because they are getting charged for it.
:29:01. > :29:07.Your concerns are the fact drunks are kicking over the bins? Yes.
:29:07. > :29:12.will ring you at 2.00. No problem. No problem. I will tell you where
:29:12. > :29:17.to put it! Thanks for your time. That was below the belt. He is only
:29:17. > :29:21.trying to do his job! We will be back with the Fab Five later. And
:29:21. > :29:31.there's more pain in store for Lyndon. It is infuriating. I'm a
:29:31. > :29:32.
:29:32. > :29:38.taxpayer as well. We are paying for this in the long run. No need for
:29:38. > :29:42.it. I'm taking you for a drive in the countryside. Look at this. It's
:29:42. > :29:47.a drive along what became known as Britain's filthiest road. For the
:29:47. > :29:52.past 15 years, Norwood Lane in Peterborough has become a dumpers'
:29:52. > :29:58.paradise and a local eyesore. Norwood Lane is very untidy. Looks
:29:58. > :30:04.a real mess. Why do people do that? You would see rats running past. It
:30:04. > :30:10.was disgusting. There were mattresses, old fridges, sofas, and
:30:10. > :30:15.general household clutter. rubbish up to here, right across,
:30:15. > :30:22.it used to come down in this fashion, all the way. Right out up
:30:22. > :30:26.to here. This is the bit of road you had to travel on. Besides
:30:26. > :30:32.vehicles, they used to run up the bank. That was from the top right
:30:32. > :30:35.the way down, right the way down to the bottom. Unbelievable. Harry
:30:35. > :30:39.Grant lives on the travellers' site at the end of this road. As you can
:30:40. > :30:43.see, they take pride in where they live. For years, he and other
:30:43. > :30:47.residents had complained about the state of the lane they had to drive
:30:47. > :30:51.down to get home. Their cries for help fell on deaf ears. So last
:30:51. > :30:58.year, they decided enough was enough. And they called in the big
:30:58. > :31:03.guns. A year ago, I had a letter from the local MP and attached to
:31:03. > :31:08.it was a letter from some local residents from a travellers' park
:31:08. > :31:13.in Peterborough. I read the letter. It was saying they were living in
:31:13. > :31:17.appalling conditions with fly- tipping blighting their lives. They
:31:17. > :31:20.included some photographs that they sent showing the examples of the
:31:20. > :31:25.sort of fly-tipping that was happening. You can see from this
:31:25. > :31:29.photo there's children's toys here, so somebody who has had a house
:31:29. > :31:33.clearance and a big clear-up has brought it down or paid somebody to
:31:33. > :31:38.bring down the rubbish from their house and tipped it on the lane
:31:38. > :31:46.where these people live. There's rubble from houses that have been
:31:46. > :31:48.knocked down where they have picked the bricks up and put them down.
:31:48. > :31:54.It's affected the road because the rubbish goes into the road and it
:31:54. > :31:58.makes the paving difficult there to drive on. Here, appalling, asbestos.
:31:58. > :32:02.Lots of asbestos. There are young children that don't know what
:32:02. > :32:06.asbestos is that would be going up, they could be touching it or
:32:06. > :32:11.playing in it. It is very frightening. Asbestos?! What kind
:32:11. > :32:16.of person thinks it is OK to just dump this anywhere? Let alone on a
:32:16. > :32:24.road leading up to a place where children and families live. The
:32:24. > :32:30.shameful list goes on. Bottles, tins, glass, dead animals, sheep,
:32:30. > :32:33.chickens, even cows' heads. We picked up 24 needles that they had
:32:33. > :32:38.been using, whoever had been using them, they were put into a bag and
:32:38. > :32:43.they were dumped in the middle of the road out here. Everything you
:32:43. > :32:49.can mention, from top, from here, down to the end. I was shocked to
:32:49. > :32:53.see how bad it was and I phoned up the gentleman who contacted me, Mr
:32:53. > :32:57.Grant, and he explained it had been going on for 15 years which seemed
:32:57. > :33:03.unacceptable. I don't think there was any rougher place in the
:33:03. > :33:06.country than what this was. years! No wonder it was called
:33:06. > :33:11.Britain's filthiest road. It wasn't just the travellers who were
:33:11. > :33:14.suffering. For the local Fire Brigade, this lane had become a
:33:14. > :33:18.trouble hotspot. Norwood Lane used to be one of our regular customers.
:33:18. > :33:22.We used to get called probably five or six times a week. It was a
:33:22. > :33:27.regular thing. We would always get called out to fly-tipping, lots of
:33:27. > :33:35.rubbish, tree cuttings, quite commonly that would involve gas
:33:35. > :33:38.cylinders as well. It's a terrible story, isn't it? The Fire Brigade
:33:38. > :33:44.called out almost every day of the week and residents being put in
:33:44. > :33:49.danger, even ambulances couldn't get past! My father-in-law - this
:33:49. > :33:54.will be 12 or 13 years ago - he had a stroke on the site. Now because
:33:54. > :33:59.the road was that bad, we couldn't get a ambulance down the road. We
:33:59. > :34:04.had to take him over the bridge to the ambulance. That road was in
:34:04. > :34:08.such a state they wouldn't come down it. Even after all this, still
:34:08. > :34:12.nothing was being done to end the fly-tipping. The residents felt
:34:12. > :34:16.like no-one was listening because they were travellers. I think they
:34:16. > :34:19.probably felt at that time that nobody cared, that they weren't
:34:19. > :34:22.treated as other citizens were treated, that their local
:34:22. > :34:25.neighbourhood was nothing like other local neighbourhoods within
:34:25. > :34:30.the city. Whilst they paid rent on their properties, they paid council
:34:30. > :34:34.tax, tax for employment they were in, they were not treated equally.
:34:34. > :34:38.You would never see this in a main street in a council estate what
:34:38. > :34:42.there was down here. You would never see that. Unfortunately for
:34:42. > :34:44.Harry and his neighbours, some Peterborough residents were
:34:44. > :34:51.convinced it was the travellers themselves who were doing the
:34:51. > :34:56.dumping. One of the problems was that when ever fly-tipping occurred,
:34:56. > :35:01.there was a strong feeling it was the travellers from the park that
:35:01. > :35:05.created the fly-tipping. The people on the site was getting the blame
:35:05. > :35:11.for it, which I kept telling them it wasn't the people on the site.
:35:11. > :35:15.It was the people that was coming from miles around, from Corby,
:35:15. > :35:19.King's Lynn, from Wisbech, they were coming from miles around to
:35:19. > :35:23.fetch their rubbish here. What is more astonishing about all of this
:35:23. > :35:26.is that the council tip is just half a mile away from this lane.
:35:26. > :35:31.Why weren't people taking their rubbish there? Well, apparently,
:35:31. > :35:35.once the queues at the tip got too long some shameless rogues decided
:35:35. > :35:39.their time was too precious so would drive to Norwood Lane and
:35:39. > :35:44.dump their rubbish there. Disgusting! The lane became filled
:35:44. > :35:48.with so much junk that some people even thought it was part of the
:35:48. > :35:52.official council dump. The only way to stop these terrible tippers in
:35:52. > :35:57.their tracks was to catch them red- handed. Enter Wayne, the wonderkid
:35:57. > :36:03.with his box of tricks. These cameras enable us to get 360
:36:03. > :36:08.degrees all the way around the van. We have a pan, tilt and zoom camera
:36:08. > :36:11.that can see up to 200 metres away. We have a front camera which
:36:11. > :36:17.monitors everything that is coming in the front and also one at the
:36:17. > :36:22.rear so that we can track vehicles or people or anything that's going
:36:22. > :36:25.around the van. Some good old- fashioned surveillance. I love it!
:36:25. > :36:30.It wasn't long before Wayne's magic eyes came up trumps. These were
:36:30. > :36:33.some of the guys he caught on camera. Take a close look. They
:36:33. > :36:38.have spotted the surveillance van and are now quickly loading stuff
:36:38. > :36:44.back on to their truck pretending to be here for a spot of spring
:36:44. > :36:48.cleaning, are we? Nice try! Evidence is being used with
:36:48. > :36:53.Peterborough City Council to take people to court with the aid of
:36:53. > :36:57.still photographs and videos that we have collected for them. So far,
:36:57. > :37:00.evidence from the covert camera operation has led to four fly-
:37:00. > :37:05.tippers being prosecuted. And more importantly, has stopped anyone
:37:05. > :37:09.else dumping stuff here. So now it's just a case of clearing the
:37:09. > :37:14.road and after 15 years building bridges with the travelling
:37:14. > :37:20.community. I feel proud of the fact that working with the traveller
:37:20. > :37:23.community we have been able to create this beautiful really
:37:23. > :37:28.environment in which when they come home, when travellers come home
:37:28. > :37:32.from work at night, or go to work, they can pass through on their
:37:32. > :37:36.daily routine and it is a very special feeling to be able to feel
:37:36. > :37:41.that somehow we have made a difference. I think it is beautiful.
:37:41. > :37:45.It is lovely. I'm very pleased that it's happened. You know, a lot of
:37:45. > :37:48.people kept saying to me that this wouldn't happen, you will never
:37:48. > :37:53.stop it. Don't matter how much you try, what you do, what you don't,
:37:53. > :37:58.you will never stop it. But I want to prove them wrong. And proved
:37:58. > :38:02.them wrong you have. It is a great result and finally Peterborough has
:38:02. > :38:10.lost the dubious reputation of being home to Britain's filthiest
:38:10. > :38:16.road. Back in Neath, Phil has something pretty filthy to sort out
:38:16. > :38:20.himself. He's on his way to a housing estate north of Port Talbot
:38:20. > :38:25.where there is a dumper not heeding a warning. Having spoken to the
:38:25. > :38:30.gentleman, he has confirmed he has put the building waste outside and
:38:30. > :38:34.it was going to be an indefinite period before he could remove it.
:38:34. > :38:38.So what's happened is a notice has been served on the gentleman giving
:38:38. > :38:45.him 15 days to remove the waste and basically it is a check to see
:38:45. > :38:49.whether the waste is still in-situ. Surely the legal threat will have
:38:49. > :38:52.pushed the fly-tipper into action? No. The rubble is still sitting
:38:52. > :38:57.there. Basically, we have four industrial sacks full of rubble.
:38:57. > :39:01.There is a black sack which is full of the same contents. What normally
:39:01. > :39:04.happens is I put a file together and it goes to our legal section
:39:04. > :39:11.for a prosecution. You are talking about a fine. There will be
:39:11. > :39:15.substantial costs, too. So the scoundrel could end up with a fine
:39:15. > :39:20.much higher than the costs of removing this rubble in the first
:39:20. > :39:27.place. The fool! The team are not giving up. Lyndon is out in the
:39:27. > :39:32.country after a call about a fly- tip. This area is popular with fly-
:39:32. > :39:42.tippers. They said there's a large fly-tip in a rocked area just off
:39:42. > :39:47.
:39:47. > :39:52.the lane. We will see what's there. Urgh! Look at this. Everything
:39:52. > :39:58.including the kitchen sink. Look like a house clearance, ranging
:39:58. > :40:00.from kitchens, lino. It is quite a substantial fly-tip. This is
:40:00. > :40:04.disgusting. Whoever did this clearly just drove up here and
:40:04. > :40:10.dumped the lot without a thought for the countryside or the poor
:40:11. > :40:15.soul who has got to go through it by hand. That's you, Lyndon. We are
:40:15. > :40:25.photographing things like carpets so if we have a potential offender,
:40:25. > :40:25.
:40:25. > :40:30.we can try and link the carpet to That's all photographed now so what
:40:30. > :40:40.we do now, I get some gloves on and we will sift through the waste to
:40:40. > :40:43.
:40:43. > :40:48.find some evidence. That's full of soil. Looks like a large roll of
:40:48. > :40:53.underlay, this. Unfortunately, these tippers know a thing or two
:40:53. > :40:56.about hiding their identity. If you look at this now, this is somebody
:40:56. > :41:02.that's probably pretty streetwise here. What they have done, they
:41:02. > :41:05.have torn off part of the delivery packaging, in all probability
:41:05. > :41:10.that's containing a name and address. So they probably season
:41:10. > :41:16.tip these lot. That's something guaranteed to wind Lyndon up.
:41:16. > :41:20.excuse, is there? If it's domestic, you have council-run skips, we will
:41:21. > :41:25.take it. Commercially, a lot of the time the members of the public pay
:41:25. > :41:29.the people for supposedly tipping of it legally. This unfortunately
:41:29. > :41:36.is the end result. It soon becomes clear that this lot didn't come
:41:36. > :41:46.from a domestic dumper. Definitely from a commercial premises, this.
:41:46. > :41:50.
:41:50. > :41:54.Even after three years in the job, Lyndon can't understand why people
:41:54. > :41:57.do this. It is infuriating. I'm a taxpayer. We are ending up paying
:41:57. > :42:01.for this in the long run. Absolutely ridiculous. No need for
:42:01. > :42:06.it. I have to say I'm impressed with the amount of effort Lyndon is
:42:07. > :42:12.putting in to going through this lot. If only it equalled results.
:42:12. > :42:16.That's all bags of soil again. Again, no evidence there. So I have
:42:16. > :42:20.been through it all. There is no evidence here. We will have to get
:42:21. > :42:24.cleansing lads up with the lorry to remove this and hopefully there is
:42:24. > :42:28.something underneath it. You are probably looking at several hundred
:42:28. > :42:31.pounds both to remove it and dispose of it legally. It's
:42:31. > :42:37.infuriating. So sadly another unsolved case for the enforcement
:42:37. > :42:41.team and Lyndon's not a happy chappy. These people are criminals.
:42:41. > :42:47.There's no two ways about it. There's a cost both to the
:42:47. > :42:52.environment and there's a cost to the authority and in turn to the
:42:52. > :42:56.taxpayer. So they are criminals. The Fab Five have had some success.
:42:56. > :43:01.Phil's lady with the sofa in the back alley admitted guilt and will
:43:02. > :43:05.be fined at least �200. The council had to remove the furniture. The
:43:05. > :43:10.building rubble was moved at the last possible moment so the threat
:43:10. > :43:14.worked in the end. But poor Lyndon, the CCTV near the dumped mattress
:43:14. > :43:20.only covered the road in front of the shop. Not the parking space
:43:20. > :43:23.where the mattress was dumped. Better look next time, mate. It's a
:43:23. > :43:27.rotten job but luckily there's a whole army of people working