Caller 'spitting feathers' over litter-cam plans branding scheme 'swipe at motorists'

20 April 2021, 09:04

Caller is 'spitting feathers' over litter cam plans

By EJ Ward

This caller is 'spitting feathers' over plans to use police traffic cameras for litter enforcement branding it an attack on motorists.

Amid calls for police traffic cameras to be repurposed to help catch people dropping litter, Nick Ferrari asked callers for their views.

Phil from Oxford called in to tell Nick he was "spitting feathers" over the plans to use police traffic cameras for litter enforcement.

Branding the move "another swipe at the motorist," the caller said councils were not dealing with issues such a flytipping already.

Asking when it comes to taxis, Phil wanted to know who would get the fine if a passenger threw litter from their car.

The call for ‘litter-cams’ by Theresa Villiers comes as new technology makes it possible to snap louts hurling rubbish from vehicle windows, the Daily Mail reported.

Miss Villiers said: "We need to get tougher on enforcing our litter laws. Litter disfigures the places where we live. It damages wildlife and costs council taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds every year."

She added: "Not long ago, the Government changed the law so that if prosecutors show that litter was thrown from a vehicle, they can fine the owner and do not have to prove the identity of the person in the car at the time.

"This important legal change should open the way for widespread use of litter-cams. Deploying the national automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) network on this task could make a big impact on cracking down on litter offences."

Caller supports 'litter-cams' to stamp out on people dropping trash

But on the other side of the coin, Richard called from Marlborough to tell LBC he "absolutely supported the idea."

He said he had no concerns over the use of cameras, because "if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about."

This led to Nick questioning him about his privacy and if he would be happy to have cameras installed in his house.

But, Richard was steadfast he said he doesn't care "what levels we go to" to stop littering.