Now families who overfill bins could get a £110 fine... compared to just £80 for drunken yobs and shoplifters

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has backed on-the-spot fines of up to £110 for those who overfill their bins, leave them out too early, or put out extra sacks of rubbish alongside them.

The price of defying rubbish regulations is £30 higher than the £80 fixed penalty fine given to shoplifters or those involved in drunken disorder in city centres.

Clamp down: Families who overfill their bins will receive larger fines than shoplifters, under Government-approved plans

The confirmation that Labour has been putting pressure on town halls and their bin police comes after three years of rapid growth in the number of fines handed out to residents for 'littering'  -  the offence committed by those who infringe strict wheelie bin rules.

Around 20,000 tickets for breach of rubbish collection rules are thought to have been issued in 2006, the latest year for which figures have been released. Tickets usually demand fines of £100 or £110.

Legislation covering on-the-spot fines for bin offences says they should be at least £75, but lays down no upper limit.

The Government has always insisted that the upper levels of bin fines were a matter for local councils to decide, but yesterday the Environment Department confirmed that ' enforcement' guidance laid down for councils from Whitehall has set the £110 level.

A spokesman for Defra said: 'The guidance is not new. It sets fines at between £75 and £110.'

He added: 'Fixed penalty notice fines are an alternative to prosecution, and were called for by local authorities so that they could react to the severity and frequency of the environmental offence and offender and ensure our streets are kept clean for all of us. Ultimately the fines are there to act as a deterrent.'

Penalties for breaking the bin rules, which usually go alongside fortnightly collections and compulsory recycling, are much tougher than those applied to thieves or to drunks creating late-night mayhem in town centres.

Bus driver Gareth Corkhill was given a criminal record earlier this year for overfilling his wheelie bin to the point where the lid was open by four inches. 

People who overfill their bins will get bigger fines than drunken yobs

Mr Corkhill was taken to court by Copeland council in Cumbria after he failed to pay a £110 on-the-spot fine.

The father of four was ordered to pay a £210 fine, equal to his week's wages, plus a £15 surcharge to help 'victims of violence', and given a record.

By contrast, shoplifters and drunks are given £80 fines, which often do not appear on their criminal record and which frequently go unpaid.

Magistrates and lawyers frequently claim that criminals are given on-the-spot fines by police anxious to hit crime clear-up targets and escape paperwork.

In fact they should be brought to court for more severe punishment. Last year prolific thief Anthony Hickingbotham ran up nine £80 on-the-spot fines for shoplifting and other criminal offences  -  none of which he paid  -  before finally being brought before a court in Hull.

The judge was not told about the unpaid fines and sent Hickingbotham on a drug treatment course.

Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said Labour was creating 'an army of municipal bin bullies hitting law-abiding families with massive fines while professional criminals get the soft touch'.

He added: 'It is clear Whitehall bureaucrats are instructing town halls to target householders with fines for minor breaches.

'Yet with the slow death of weekly collections and shrinking bins, it is increasingly hard for families to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

'It is fundamentally unfair that householders are now getting hammered with larger fines than shoplifters.'