00:00Just one day in court produced 12 successful prosecutions for littering,
00:05with those responsible left to pay nearly £5,000 between them.
00:10The cases were brought to Magistrates Court by Liverpool City Council in June.
00:14They'd received fixed penalty notices from enforcement partner Waste Investigation Support and Enforcement,
00:21known as WISE, but the penalties were not resolved.
00:23None of the 12 defendants attended court, while two pleaded guilty by letter.
00:27Those prosecuted were ordered to pay nearly £5,000.
00:31The council says they came from as far afield as Surrey and London, and two-thirds were under 40 years
00:37old.
00:38How much of a litter problem do you think Liverpool has?
00:42Oh, a big one. And the outskirts as well.
00:47But then again, everybody's filling the bins to the top and they can't close them.
00:52It depends where you are. I mean, we live in Anfield.
00:54It's cold and certain roads are really dirty, but other roads are all right.
01:00I suppose it's if you look after your own community, but it is bad, especially in town.
01:06But lesser, I mean, it is a bit messy at times.
01:09The council has an environmental enforcement team dealing with waste handling by businesses and fly-tipping.
01:16It recently secured a case involving a van filmed unloading waste beside a purple wheelie bin on Liberty Street.
01:24The vehicle owner was taken to court.
01:26Liverpool City Council issued 2,239 fixed penalty notices in 2025.
01:34I've seen quite a lot. I mean, our entry is disgusting, isn't it? Fly-tipping.
01:39But again, I think if you look after your own community, I think we have a clean city.
01:45Dreadful, dreadful. I've just come across it locally myself on my way now for the bus.
01:50Just dumping it. I don't think people know what the tip is.
01:53That was a trip out of my husband when they were young. We're going to the tip.
01:59If they're not the ones who do a trip to fly to them with wagons, wagon loads, the wagons should
02:03be taken off and sold to pay for the damage.
02:07That's the first and they should be fired out of this off the scale.
02:11They should know.
02:12If they're doing it, they're making money on it.
02:14They all make a lot of money on it.
02:17In Liverpool, anyone caught littering faces a £150 penalty.
02:21Dog fouling carries a £100 penalty.
02:24People who dispute an offence or refuse to pay can now be prosecuted before the court decides whether an offence
02:31occurred.
02:32I don't think that's going to work.
02:34I think there should be more bins.
02:37And more, I'd say, posters to encourage people to pick up the rubbish.
02:41But I think it's also common sense.
02:43And our bins get collected weekly, so I don't know why it's an issue.
02:47Well, I mean, they did have people going round and they catch them.
02:52They got found on the spot.
02:54But I've never seen them for such a long time.
02:58And I'm policing that.
