Fixed Penalty Notices

None payment of Fixed Penalty Notice will result in legal action, where your case will be taken to court and you could be faced with a larger fine.

A conviction at court for a breach of a Community Protection Notice could result in a fine of up to level 4 for individuals, or £20,000 for businesses on prosecution.

On conviction at court for a Public Space protection Order, you could end up in court and be faced with a conviction up to level 3 on prosecution.   

A person who commits an offence under section 33 Environmental protection Act 1990 is liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding £50,000 or both;

(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine or both.”

Uniformed Environmental Enforcement Officers will be patrolling across the district and will be issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for the following:

Dropping litter –  including items such as cigarette butts, chewing gum, fast food and other forms of litter such as packaging. The offence of littering also, covers spitting and urinating in public.

Dog Fouling – currently under the PSPO – failing to pick up after your dog or not disposing of the dog waste in the correct way.

Dropping litter, not cleaning up after your dog and flytipping are all offences that are illegal and impact on the look of the community and enjoyment of others. The council has run several campaigns over the years targeting environmental crimes using press releases, posters and advertising. We continue to promote our education campaign and work jointly with organisations such as the Environment Agency, Clean Kent and Keep Britain Tidy.  Unfortunately publicity alone is not effective enough so the council are combining this with enforcement. The aim of the enforcement patrols is to target those who choose to ignore the littering laws which the vast majority abide by.

Fly-tipping – depositing of any waste onto land without permission

Breach of Community Protection Notice – is slightly different, in that it is specific to an individual who will have already received a warning and a notice setting out what it is they are expected to do to remedy the situation. A Fixed Penalty Notice will only be issued if these previous requests have not been complied with.

Breach of Public Space Protection Order – This Order comes into force on the 25 October 2017 for a period of three years. This covers a range of offences including; Failure to remove faeces from land, failing to comply with a direction given to them by an authorised officer to put and keep a dog on a lead, failing to keep a dog on a lead on land during a period in the schedule in a specified location, failing to carry suitable dog faeces receptacle, allowing a dog to enter an area within a dog exclusion area.

More information about the PSPO is available here

Streetscene Enforcement send out a various number of notices in relation to environmental crime offences, failure to comply to these notices result in Fixed penalty Notices being issued. These include but are not limited to;

Failure to comply with a waste receptacles notice. Section 46 Environmental protection Act 1990

Failure to produce waste documents. Section 34 (5) Environmental Protection act 1990

Failure to produce authority to transport waste.Section 5/5B Control of pollution act 1989

Abandoned vehicles.Section 2 The Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978

It is not feasible for the council to put litter bins on every street, road and highway in the district as this would not be practical or affordable. Every effort is made to place bins where these are needed, generally around the highest levels of pedestrian footfall.

Dog poo once bagged can be placed in any litter bin, not only the designated dog poo bins.

Where bins are not available then it is up to you to act responsibly and carry your litter to a bin or take your litter home.

The council are not required to place signs in every area to tell people not to litter and inform them about the litter patrols. However, the council has put up signs in areas of high footfall warning the public that enforcement action is taking place in the area.

Yes it does. Litter includes cigarette butts and chewing gum. These two items tend to be more of a nuisance and more expensive to clean than other items of rubbish.

Smokers are responsible for ensuring that they completely extinguish their cigarettes before placing them in a bin.

Litter offences relate to the act of dropping litter so whether or not you volunteer to pick this up afterwards you have still committed an offence and will still receive a fine.

There are no formal grounds of appeal against a Fixed Penalty Notice. This is because by paying a Fixed Penalty Notice, whilst not an admission of guilt, you agree that an offence has been committed and that by paying no further action will be taken by the council.

This saves time for everyone involved (including the offender) as opposed to taking the case to court. The fine is likely to be substantially lower than any fine imposed by the courts. For example the maximum penalty which can be imposed by the courts for littering is £2,500.

If you don’t agree that you have committed the offence for which you received the Fixed Penalty Notice then the matter will be dealt with through formal prosecution via the courts.

Any mitigating circumstances that you wish to make us aware of can be communicated through the details given on the Fixed Penalty Notice.

You can contact Thanet District Council via Po Box 9, Cecil Street, Margate. CT9 1XZ or 01843 577000.  If you quote the Issuing Officer named on the Fixed Penalty Notice they be able to contact you and discuss further.

This will be reviewed and you may be granted a time extension to pay. The Fixed Penalty Notice cannot be paid in instalments.

Remember

• If you drop litter (including cigarette butts or chewing gum) you will be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100.
• That you can use bins without ashtrays, extinguish the cigarette first, then place it in the bin.
• Not having a bin to hand is not an excuse for littering.
• Placing a cigarette end down a drain is still an offence which will result in a fine.
• The offence is complete once the item is deposited and the person walks away.

Failing to give your name and address is an offence under the Environment Protection Act 1990 Section 88 (8B). You will be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.