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Traffic Wardens To Give £80 Spot-Fines... For Litter?
Council give team of Traffic Wardens the power to fine city centre litter slobs
WE'RE used to being busted by Traffic Wardens, it's one of life's inevitable arse-aches.
But now Manchester City Council have given a team of Traffic Wardens the power to hand out even more fines... but this time for littering.
The officers will hand out on the spot fines to litter bugs, and anyone who refuses to pay the £80 bill will face being taken before the courts.
Confidential has made no bones in the past about our frustration with the amount of litter in the city centre.
We've stated how the city was betraying its duty to keep it's face clean and how this failure could potentially hit tourism, investment, city morale and so on and so on.
For a good riling up read here - Mucky MCR: We've Come So Far, This Let's Us Down, and here - Nine Staff Clean City Centre At Night - Rotas Revealed
To give them credit, the council reacted.
In September 2013 they announced a £14.5m city clean-up fund - made possible by a nifty airport dividend.
In December 2013 they released 'gum blasters' onto the city centre streets to jetwash 90,000 square metres of pavement with around 10,000 litres of water.
In March 2014 the council announced they would be offering £200 grants to volunteers willing to help clean the streets.
And in June 2014 they spent £500,000 on 600 new bins for the city centre.
Now the council are set to begin a litter crackdown in and around the city centre with a new team of four specially trained 'litter busting' Traffic Wardens.
Traffic wardens will be dish out £80 fines for littering
The dedicated team will work seven days a week looking out for those who ignore rubbish bins and drop their litter on the ground.
And the council have said that because the four officers are already part of a workforce employed by NSL (the City Council’s parking contractors), the move will cost the council next to nothing.
Another twenty PCSOs have also received additional training and will begin handing out litter enforcement notices in the city centre.
The officers will have the ability to hand out spot fines to litter bugs, and anyone who refuses to pay the £80 bill will face being taken before the courts.
The team will concentrate on well-used parts of the city centre where there have been problems with littering, while larger numbers of the officers will be on duty at busier times, such as around the children's play area on Piccadilly Gardens.
It is a move adopted by council's in both Southampton and Tunbridge Wells in recent years as part of their litter crackdown.
Cllr Bernard Priest, deputy leader of the council, said: “We’ve invested in the city centre by providing these new bins, we’ve communicated with the vast majority of decent people who want to enjoy the city centre and don’t want to see it being used as a rubbish dump – now we’ve got to get tough.
“This crack team have had special training and will get to work looking for those individuals who still think it’s acceptable to drop litter. These litter louts are in the minority but there’s enough of them to have an impact on the city centre, which is very distressing for our residents and the millions of people which visit Manchester every year.
"From now on, anyone who drops litter can expect a tap on the shoulder and an on the spot fine.”
So if you must park on those double yellows, for Christ sake don't drop that Nik Naks packet on the floor.
The fine will be reduced to £50 if paid within the first 10 days.
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69 comments so far, continue the conversation, write a comment.
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Can we have fines for skateboarders please?
Skateboarding isn't illegal. So no.
But it is if they skate on the cenotaph isn't it Joan?
Joan, it's not illegal to skateboard but surely criminal damage due to skateboarding is. All street furniture should have large metal bobbles on to stop skaters sliding down. I notice that the new benches around the Cenotaph don't.
I remember back in 1990s bollards being put up,and police cars being stationed to stop criminals driving vehicles into stores and robbing them.But the damage skateboarders do to benches and statues you ignored,until they damaged the cenotaph and people complained.If there not a law banning Skateboarding then make one,and prosecute them and fine them for damage they causing.
Bloody hell, for once, I agree with David. I don't mind skateboarders on paths but I do hate all the damage they do to street furniture.
"If there not a law banning Skateboarding then make one,and prosecute them and fine them for damage they causing." That deserves a prize for the most 'David' comment ever posted.
Gimboid, you can't have a true 'David' comment without the mention of Leese and the Labour party. Skateboards do a lot of damage to the city and it's council tax payers that have to foot the bill.
This article is about Fixed Penalty Notices, a potentially efficient penalty for a simple and easily observable offence. FPNs are not really suitable, in my view, for criminal damage offences. If there is proof of the offence and the culprit can be identified I would favour prosecution.
It seems you can fine skateboarders....follow the link to the picture....www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php…
Glad to see you not only covering this but highlighting a whole list of actions we've been taking to try to get to grips with the litter issue. We've got the new bins and plenty of new notices warning against dropping litter, there is no excuse to do so and people will be fined. Simple. I'm looking forward to going out with the new team next week.
The new bins aren't emptied regularly enough Kevin.
Kevin, the new bins are clearly unfit for purpose. I can't go 5 minutes in the centre without seeing one overspilling and creating a mess around it. Given financing for the bins was a one-off grant, and extra capital to increase staff/rotas is presumably unavailable - surely the money should have been invested in far bigger bins even if less were installed?
I wish the road sweepers would do their job better, why are they so useless? every traffic island on the inner ring road has piles of gravel on it and around it. The road sweepers never go near traffic islands, can't understand it. All these piles of stones make the city look shabby, who trains these people?
I hope these officers will have to produce some evidence to back up their claim that the individual in question actually dropped the litter. I read a story of a person who was falsely accused with dropping an apple core by a special PO and when he refused to pick it up was threatened with arrest. In a busy, crowded, messy Manchester high street there is evey chance an innocent could be falsely accused and we know very well that these officers always go for the soft targets - old people or soft looking youngsters. I am afraid at the thought of being wrongly accused and will think twice about visiting manchester city centre again.
Why always me!!! It's a conspiracy!!!! If your thinking twice about coming to Manchester because of the slim chance of being 'wrongly' accused of dropping litter, you need better things to worry about. Stay indoors tomorrow, I've heard there's a chance you might be struck by lightning.
Oh dear, maybe stay at home and wrap yourself in tin foil?
Since when did police arrest for litter? Because they don't. It's not an arrestable offence. You need to check what you're reading mate.
Brilliant news. I've wanted this to happen for years and years. And credit to the council for listening and acting on it. One thing I would say is I've noticed the new bins in town are always full when I walk past them, which is good as people are using them, but do we need more bins or do they need emptying more often? Town is only going to get busier now as we approach Christmas and we don't want overflowing bins as people come here for the shopping or festive markets.
Someone once dropped litter in from if me and I picked it up and followed them with it for a short while until they stopped. I handed back to them saying I thought they had dropped it. They looked at me as though I was mad, and realised that I was and still am. Another 'funny' I like to do is to pick litter up left on public transport and tell ask the culprit "Shall I put this in the bin for you?" They always look a little embarrassed in front of the other passengers and try and style it out. Everyone thinks I'm mad and I am in fact insane.
I did a similar thing years ago. I watched a scally stand next to a bin on Cross St who was eating fried chicken from a box. As he finished each bit he dropped it on the floor. He dropped each bone and then the box and didn't have a care in the world. No one said a thing other than me, and we nearly had a full blown punch up in the centre of town! I would have loved to see someone make him pay a £50 fine for dropping the litter. Grrrrrrrr!
Nobody likes litter, sure. But you two really need to get out more. 'Followed him for a short while,' 'Another 'funny'... good god. Just pick up the litter and put it in the bin. You sound like a depressing, middle-aged one man (or woman) Greenpeace. I'd love it if someone fined you both £50,000 for being painfully boring.
"Just pick up the litter and put it in the bin. You sound like a depressing, middle-aged one man (or woman) Greenpeace. I'd love it if someone fined you both £50,000 for being painfully boring." May sound boring to you- but some of us would like to not live in a pig sty of a city. Yes- more bins were needed. Yes- the new bins need emptying more often. But as important as this is a change in attitude among those who think it's perfectly fine to just throw litter where they stand. If embarrassing litterers into thinking twice about dropping rubbish on the streets in the future then so be it. One at a time people's attitudes may change and we may get to live somewhere that isn't disgusting due to people's selfishness and laziness- expecting others to do it for them. Giving wardens the power to fine is the natural extension of this. I'm sure people would rather embarrassed into changing their attitude by a so-called bore than ending up with an £80 fine.
'I'd love it if someone fined you both £50,000 for being painfully boring.' Oh my! Read the first Anon again. They're clear taking the p***. Just read the last line.
Hear, hear, Manc.
Well said Manc. Anon @ 9.50 give your head a wobble.
Yeah hang your head in shame anon. In fact lets find him and chemically castrate him. Everyone should do their best to keep this city looking its best. Got to have pride #MCR4LIFE
And how exactly is this going to be enforced?
How about slapping a fine on the restaurants in china town? EVERYDAY in China town there are bags of rotting waste just on the pavement, no one bothers to clean it up!!
They're exempt
No doubt they are putting plenty of money in the backpockets of MCC to stay out of their way........
It's very difficult to fine restaurants when they just leave food in the bags and no evidence of where it came from.
Re bins always being full - tell us which ones and we can look at moving those which are often empty to these busier spots. We're still working this out.
Kevin, You talk about 600 new bins but lots of those were replacements for old bins. Just how many extra bins did we actually end up with?
What working out does it require Kevin to station,more and bigger bins,in locations with heavy amount of litter.The clue Kevin maybe in your own 'busier spots' words.
Thanks for that, David.
Almost every single one I walk past Kevin, all over town. And they will only get fuller quicker with more people in town with the start of the Christmas Markets. Maybe you could inform us how often they are emptied. Maybe that's the problem?
Chinatown Kev......
Market Street, Oldham Street, Chinatown, Cross Street are a few I have noticed.
How is it that cities with no airport dividend and with the same cuts grants are able to keep City centre clean but Manchester is not?.Why does not Manchester Confidential get together with its other city website and compare the state of each City centre?.Perhaps when people realise other northern city with less money do better they may force a change.
Kevin the problem is not where the bins are located but the fact you don't have enough people to empty them. Hopefully when street cleaning is privatised next year they will do a better job.
How about Tuesday afternoon when all the bins on high st and market st were overflowing till the next morning. Bottom line not enough people cleaning the streets.
How about doing your job "councillor" and going out and looking for yourself. Let's face it, you hardly cover a huge ward.
Kevin - thanks for asking, ignore the pathetic trolls above. Saturday morning on Oldham Street was pretty depressing - bags of rubbish and piles of other random junk left cluttered around the street furniture opposite Pop Boutique.
Outside Pop Boutique I mean
Sometime in 2015 Labour politicians will try to convince the British electorate that they are capable of running the entire country again during the General Election. With a 100% mandate in Manchester, if they cannot get basic services like street cleaning, policing and improving the lives of the 20000 residents here why the hell should 70million+ trust them? They ultimately chose not to include bins a part of significant Capital Expenditure on the city centre public realm for the last 15years and continue to make maintenance of the city virtually impossible for its staff with its piecemeal approach to planning of sprawling disconnected developments.
500k and you don't even know where to put them. ffs.
Fines are a great idea, however, the 100s of bins that have been put around the City Centre do not get emptied often enough. And they may want to set up a Direct Debit with businesses in Chinatown, they do not seem to give a hoot about where they put their rubbish as long as it is not outside their own front door. The place is a disgrace!
Maybe give that bossed eyed gypsie girl who's always scrounging for cash around Piccadilly Gardens a broom.......then again, she might fly away on it
Theres also one who holds a plastic baby claming that its real, could MCC give her a brush as well? she could maybe help out with the bossed eyed one?
Hold the likes of Kevin responsible and fine the council members out of their expenses,for the state of the city centre and you will rapidly see a clean city centre.Even if it means them going round themselves in the evening street cleaning,instead of nodding through one of Leeses pet developments.At the moment it seems like the unions representing the cleaners seem to be ones dictating litter collection.
David: fancy a coffee?
And the award for Funniest Rant Ever Posted on Mancon goes to.... Joan for that last one.
Joan for president!
Just walked through china town all the streets off Nicholas Street are full of bin bags it looks a right mess, it is like this EVERYDAY! I have contacted MCC on several occasions, all I get back is 'We will look into this' its clearly all trash from the restaurants, I don't understand why it is not moved? The streets and bins need clearing up everyday, it really lets Manchester down!!!
The area nicknamed China Town would be ideal for apartments or even offices. Who eats there anyway other than Chinese people or people of Chinese decent? You'd think they'd appreciate the many genres of food that Manchester now has to offer wouldn't you?
"Who eats there anyway other than Chinese people or people of Chinese decent?" Er, what? Is this a serious question? Plenty of non-Chinese people eat in China Town. And it's not 'nicknamed' China Town, it's been called China Town for decades.
Maybe, but more so in the 1980's.
There are bin bags left outside the apartments and businesses in The Northern Quarter that often split overnight and spill rubbish on the street. When the bags are picked up the letter remains seemingly for days.
Awww isn't city centre living brilliant? I live in the city and my neighbours and I are very respectful of each other and you won't find litter in our area.
Well good for you!
It's probably because you're all white, middle class protestants that have a better idea than most of how to live alongside your fellow human beings. Am I right?
I am ASHAMED of this city (THE WHOLE conurbation is just as bad..)..Litter wherever you look..Reached the point I hate having family visit from the continent..They do comment about the litter and ask WHY????
Know what you mean. I'm in the same position with relatives from Europe. Hopefully the fines will make people think and we'll have cleaner streets going forward.
Lol have you seen the graffiti in most European cities,especially outside the tourist centres?.French cities they are far more filthy.
This is mcc doing their usual trick of announcing something for the sake of it. The traffic wardens have been fining people for litter for the last 4 years now. This is all to hide the fact that mcc has been significantly reducing the street cleaning teams and spending much less in the city centre to keep the streets clean. Amazing how the area around the Midland and Central gets jet-washed just before the party conferences. 600 bins incidentally is less than a ¼ of the bins in the city centre. Mcc replaced older bins with the new (smaller) ones that have the mcc bee logo on.
Spotted 3 bins all next to each other on fountain street! Why have 3 all next to each other? On a street that's not even busy, also chiba town still full of rotting food in bags everywhere, what a dump the city centre has turned into! Come on mcc sort it out before I decide to lower my council tax payments!!!
I saw one bin at the weekend that I've not seen anywhere else in town before. I was a new bin with the bee logo on. It was a large bin with 3 different parts for recycling glass, plastic and paper and one part for general waste. This is the sort of bin that would take much longer to fill. It's the sort of bin that would be great in the busy parts of town, the places where the new bins are overflowing. It was on Dorsey St (Where?!) A little walk way between Tib St and Oak St in the Northern Quarter. Are there more of these bins dotted about? If not why is the biggest new bin been put in a place that sees about 5 people a day walk past it, while all the other smaller bins are overflowing?
I wonder if you can take MCC to a tribunal for an unreasonable Council Tax....surely they are not delivering what they are promising?