Fines for car idling and noisy dogs increase five-fold

On-the-spot fines for anti-social behaviour are to increase five-fold under new laws that critics claim will unfairly penalise 'crimes' such as car idling, untidy gardens and noisy dogs.
The Crime and Policing Bill has raised the maximum fines from £100 to £500 as the Government attempts to tackle anti-social behaviour in city and town centres.
The Home Office says that it is part of its zero tolerance approach to behaviour that is 'eroding the quality of people's lives and confidence of local communities'.
It aims to target persistent behaviour such as threats, abuse, harassment, aggressive begging, drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
However, campaigners say the powers have been widened by 'busybody' councils to sanction 'trivial' activities such as dog walkers who do not have their pets on a lead, people loitering in a group of three or more and messy front gardens.
Private enforcement officers in Hillingdon, west London, issued 2,335 penalties for 'idling', which was not previously a punishable offence, 342 for spitting, and 115 for misusing motorised electric vehicles in 2023, according to freedom of information (FoI) requests by the campaign group the Manifesto Club.
'It's a toxic cocktail of extremely broad laws and incentivised officers enforcing them,' said Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Club.
'A fine of £500 is unaffordable for most people. The whole point of an on-the-spot fine is that it's a slap on the wrist but £500 is not. It's like half a person's pay cheque.'
Activities in public spaces
The increased fines are being introduced to enforce Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) which allow councils to ban activities in public spaces and Community Protection Orders (CPNs) for anti-social behaviour.
They can be issued for actions that are deemed to have a 'detrimental effect on the quality of life'. Failure to pay the fines can result in prosecution and bigger financial penalties.
They are in addition to Labour's planned new Respect Orders, which give police and local councils powers to ban persistent offenders from town centres or from drinking in public spots such as high streets and local parks. Failure to comply with the orders is a criminal offence.
The Manifesto Club claims that PSPO and CPN fines have increased exponentially, with councils contracting out enforcement to private security companies who take a percentage of any penalty notice income and incentivise their staff with targets.
Data obtained under FoI laws by the group has found 19,000 penalty fines were issued for PSPO breaches and 1,500 for CPNs in 2022/23.
The largest numbers of councils (88) issued PSPO penalties for dog offences, such as entering a no-dog zone or having dogs off leads. This was followed by drinking in public (47), vehicle nuisance (18), urination (18) and anti-social behaviour (15).
Harrow listed its penalties as amplification, feeding the birds, failing to produce a dog fouling bag, drinking, distributing leaflets, obstruction, smoking in a playground, spitting, street trading and table stands.
Punished for untidy garden
Durham council issued the highest number of penalties for CPN breaches, with 468 on-the-spot fines for 'untidy yards and gardens'. This was out of 914 CPNs issued, meaning that more than half of those who received a CPN for an untidy garden were later punished for breach.
Ms Appleton said the Government should ban payment incentive schemes. 'The only reason the fines are so high is because many of them are being issued by people on commission so they will nab anybody they can,' she said.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'Too many town centres are being plagued by anti-social behaviour, eroding the quality of peoples' lives and confidence of local communities.
'Our flagship Crime and Policing Bill is tackling anti-social behaviour head-on to ensure our streets and neighbourhoods are safer. We are absolutely clear that no anti-social behaviour should be dismissed as 'trivial' or 'low level'.
'This includes increasing the upper limit for various types of fixed penalty notices to £500, which will help deter more people from breaching them, and ultimately reduce anti-social behaviour.'

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