Drivers have been warned they could face penalty points on their licence for breaking environmental safety rules under new proposals.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has called for drivers caught fly-tipping to receive penalty points on their licences as part of tougher measures aimed at tackling the UK's growing litter problem.
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The former Conservative Party chair has proposed introducing new penalties for those caught dumping waste with offenders receiving three penalty points on their driving licences, alongside increased fines.
"It just seems like we are literally sinking under this," Warsi told The Times, describing the current situation as akin to "mopping whilst the tap is on".
Sign our petition to stop the litter blight across our United Kingdom
If a driver accumulates more than 12 penalty points in one year, they could face a total driving ban alongside fines. The peer acknowledged that as a Conservative, she typically opposed state intervention but insisted "we have to start taking much more draconian action".
The scale of fly-tipping has remained stubbornly high with councils dealing with more than one million incidents last year, marking only a one per cent decline since the pandemic. This compares to 957,000 incidents in 2018-19 and 980,000 in 2019-2020.
Pavements and roads were named the most common locations for illegal waste dumping, accounting for 40 per cent of all incidents.
A recent Keep Britain Tidy field survey found that only nine per cent of 1,140 locations across the UK were completely litter-free.
Sign our petition now to call on the Government to introduce a minimum fine of £1,000 for littering or fly-tipping and to enforce mandatory jail sentences of at least three months upon a third conviction. - SIGN HERE
The survey revealed cigarette butts and packaging were found in 70 per cent of places, followed by sweet wrappers at 52 per cent, drinks containers at 31 per cent, and fast-food litter at 22 per cent.
Clean Up Britain, a campaign group which has been backed by Warsi, installed 87 cameras across 19 counties to catch vehicles dumping rubbish illegally.
The cameras have been positioned to monitor lay-bys and roadsides, with footage being shared directly with local authorities to help secure fines against offenders.
"Part of the problem is not enough local authorities are prosecuting. There isn't enough action taken. People think that this is a crime where they're not going to be caught," Warsi said.
She also proposed new technological solutions which would link packaging to vehicle owners through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
"If you were to go out and buy a McDonalds, [then] your number plate is printed onto the packaging. Then if that packaging was found on the country verge two miles from there because you've eaten it and chucked it out, then it comes back to you," she explained.
The system would enable authorities to trace discarded litter back to offenders and impose appropriate fines. But current enforcement measures appear insufficient, with at least one-fifth of councils issuing no fines for littering in 2021-22.
Warsi warned that there aren't enough deterrents to prevent fly-tipping and littering under the current system, with the Government starting to take the first steps to address the issue.
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Warsi added: "We have to educate a whole new generation of the damage that this does to the environment, to wildlife, to plants.
"I'm desperate just to build allies across all political parties on this and not make it a party political issue, to make it a national interest issue."
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Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has called for drivers caught fly-tipping to receive penalty points on their licences as part of tougher measures aimed at tackling the UK's growing litter problem.
SIGN OUR PETITION: CALLING FOR HARSHER PUNISHMENT FOR THOSE THAT TRASH OUR COUNTRY
The former Conservative Party chair has proposed introducing new penalties for those caught dumping waste with offenders receiving three penalty points on their driving licences, alongside increased fines.
"It just seems like we are literally sinking under this," Warsi told The Times, describing the current situation as akin to "mopping whilst the tap is on".
Sign our petition to stop the litter blight across our United Kingdom
If a driver accumulates more than 12 penalty points in one year, they could face a total driving ban alongside fines. The peer acknowledged that as a Conservative, she typically opposed state intervention but insisted "we have to start taking much more draconian action".
The scale of fly-tipping has remained stubbornly high with councils dealing with more than one million incidents last year, marking only a one per cent decline since the pandemic. This compares to 957,000 incidents in 2018-19 and 980,000 in 2019-2020.
Pavements and roads were named the most common locations for illegal waste dumping, accounting for 40 per cent of all incidents.
A recent Keep Britain Tidy field survey found that only nine per cent of 1,140 locations across the UK were completely litter-free.
Sign our petition now to call on the Government to introduce a minimum fine of £1,000 for littering or fly-tipping and to enforce mandatory jail sentences of at least three months upon a third conviction. - SIGN HERE
The survey revealed cigarette butts and packaging were found in 70 per cent of places, followed by sweet wrappers at 52 per cent, drinks containers at 31 per cent, and fast-food litter at 22 per cent.
Clean Up Britain, a campaign group which has been backed by Warsi, installed 87 cameras across 19 counties to catch vehicles dumping rubbish illegally.
The cameras have been positioned to monitor lay-bys and roadsides, with footage being shared directly with local authorities to help secure fines against offenders.
"Part of the problem is not enough local authorities are prosecuting. There isn't enough action taken. People think that this is a crime where they're not going to be caught," Warsi said.
She also proposed new technological solutions which would link packaging to vehicle owners through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
"If you were to go out and buy a McDonalds, [then] your number plate is printed onto the packaging. Then if that packaging was found on the country verge two miles from there because you've eaten it and chucked it out, then it comes back to you," she explained.
The system would enable authorities to trace discarded litter back to offenders and impose appropriate fines. But current enforcement measures appear insufficient, with at least one-fifth of councils issuing no fines for littering in 2021-22.
Warsi warned that there aren't enough deterrents to prevent fly-tipping and littering under the current system, with the Government starting to take the first steps to address the issue.
STOP TRASHING BRITAIN:
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Warsi added: "We have to educate a whole new generation of the damage that this does to the environment, to wildlife, to plants.
"I'm desperate just to build allies across all political parties on this and not make it a party political issue, to make it a national interest issue."
Find Out More...