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Street wardens to issue £200 on-the-spot fines
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor22.09.08
Street wardens in Camden will be able to hand out on-the-spot fines of up to £200 as part of a drive to tackle antisocial behaviour.
Under changes to be introduced over the coming months wardens will be able to issue penalties for offences including littering, fly-posting, nuisance parking and abandoning a vehicle.
Other offences include failing to control dogs or allowing them to foul pavements, creating graffiti or letting rubbish spill onto the street.
Although the maximum penalty for most offences is between £80 and £110, the largest fine is a £200 charge for abandoning a vehicle.
The reforms will see teams of wardens deployed to "hotspot" areas in the borough - including Bloomsbury, Gospel Oak and Cantelowes - where problems are most severe.
The decision by Camden council to introduce the powers, which are likely to lead to complaints about "policing on the cheap", follows what officials say has been the success of the existing warden scheme, which first came into effect in 2002.
Under the revised plan the wardens will be switched from King's Cross - where crime has dropped - and Camden Town, which is already heavily policed, to concentrate on other areas.
These include the Haverstock, Gospel Oak and Kentish Town districts - which are described as having "gang and drugs issues" and a high level of robbery and violence against the under-19s - as well as the Cantelowes district, which lies between Camden Town and Islington. It is said to suffer from prostitution, environmental crime, anti-social behaviour, drug and race hate crime.
Bloomsbury, described as having " significant drugs, alcohol and property crime problems" as well as " significant street-based anti-social behaviour" such as prostitution and "sex carding", will also remain a focus. At the moment, Camden has 15 wardens. The powers to issue the fines will be introduced over the next few months once authorisation has been obtained from the Met.
People who pay within 10 days can obtain a discount, but those who fail to do so within two weeks could face prosecution.
Reader views (14)
The fines are UP to £200, which is in line with most authorities. It is council policy to educate, not fine, but regular offenders will not accept education, so fine is needed. As for comments about workers, all are highly qualified and trained, so comments to detriment of that are simply uneducated guesses!
Here here to weeding out serial offenders.
- Jimbo, Chelmsford
How cute, when will the councils start beheading offenders.That should solve the problem?
- John (Brit Exp Pat), Phoenix USA
Street Wardens are all very well, but don't Police Officers, PCSOs also have a duty to carry out these functions. Glasgow in Scotland operates around 40 or so uniformed Litter Wardens around the city centre. However these officials are equipped with personal protection ie: Stab Vests and radios. They do not have any legal powers except issuing Fixed penalty Notices for littering or similar offences.
If the experience of these Street Wardens is an actual reduction in low level crimes, then they may be worth the expense. Other local authorities make use of dedicated Community Wardens whose duties are similar, and they do seem to be appreciated by the local citizens.
As for them actually being effective in lowering certain anti-social behaviours remains to be seen. The jury is still out on this.
- L Oncle Vanya De Caesaromagus, Chelmsford England
Here they come, walkin' down the street, get the funniest looks from...everyone they meet -- Hey Hey we're the Wardens! People say we're tryin' it on, but we're to busy finin', to help folks in Camden Town.
- Micky D, London
Criminals often go to court for serious offences and get a lower penalty.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford
They can only do this to us if we co-operate. Refuse to obey, and the policy will be dropped.
- Neil, London UK
Yet another step on Nu-Labour's frog-march towards turning Britain into a police-state.... give it a couple of years and these people will be handing-out fines to joe public for having politically-incorrect thoughts (such as voting for someone other than Nu-Labour).
- Sean, London, UK
Yes but in return the Street Wardens should show documents proving that they are legal immigrants.
- Fred, Horsham
Take, take, take is where the Camden Council stands. Funny (sic) that when it comes to a council problem they (their foot soldiers) can't do a thing.
Try asking a traffic warden from that area to check a meter, "Oh, we're not allowed to carry keys to meters or check for faults", all has to be done by those sitting in their ivory towers with radios or letters sent by their admin staff telling the public where to get off.
- Tony Islander, Denham, Herts
Fines are the most ludicrous punishment for the poor. Hi. So it goes soemthing like this: #1. Person caught by a coumcil employee drunk on their own power is carged a fine. #2. Person hasn't got the money in the first place so the fine doubles. #3.Person commiting said crime is served with a warrant to attend court. #4. Person still unable to pay fine gets community service and a POLICE RECORD. #5. Will the council employees be on the quota system? How will the council ensure that there's enough people around breaking the law to pay their employees salary?
Will natural born British citizens get these jobs? Wouldn't it be cheaper to license dogs, put out more litter bins and put in high rise parking run by the council at a profit?
- Deezee9, London, England
oh yes everyone will admit to abandoning a vehicle-well done NuNU
- Amoreno, luxembourg
If one had spent a few years in a space station and suddenly came back to earth to find that badly educated and essentially unregulated council workers had been given powers to hand out fines, one would want to go straight back to the space station.
How on earth did we get to this situation?
Although I have my reservations about the priorities of police officers, they at least have minimum standards and are regulated, and can usually observe a degree of common sense.
Sadly, the best thing the average Joe can do now is make sure he does not carry any form of ID, and wear running shoes so he can leg it from any jumped up little Hitler from the local town hall before they get a chance to slap a fine on you.
At least nobody has thought to give these jokers the power of arrest. Yet.
- George, London
I hope they fine people for riding a bike on a pavement, chaining one to a lamppost - or wearing Lycra, actually.
- The Gene Genie, Croydon
Great - drop a choccy bar wrapper now you get a 200 quid fine. But organise a meeting of your fellow co-religionists that glorifies terrorism and raises funds for the means to commit terrorism and the police 'look the other way'.
Don't know about you but I'd rather wade knee deep through choccy bar wrappers than be blown up by crazies all 'hopped up' on their FICTIONAL deity trip.
I find these suicide murderer nutters FAR more antisocial that a horde of choccy bar wrapper droppers.
Then I guess that makes me Nu Liebours public enemy number one, being a tax paying law abiding motorist. So shall I expect the armed response squad round any minute?
- Ethan, UK
