Sharp-eyed neighbour helps catch litter bug

A BROADWAY man has been fined more than a thousand pounds for littering after a sharp-eyed resident pieced together a letter which helped identify the culprit.

The fine comes after the resident discovered a huge amount of litter off Clayfield Road in South Littleton containing plastic bags, letters, junk mail and plastic cups. Later he put one of the ripped up letters together to find they belonged to Richard Stephens from Station Road in Broadway.

Wychavon approached Mr Stephens twice for an interview so he had the opportunity to defend himself but the 22-year-old failed to respond to requests made by Wychavon and he was given a fixed penalty notice for £75, which he failed to pay.

Wychavon officers were then left with no choice but to send him to court where he was ordered to pay a fine of £500 plus costs making it a total of £1,010.

Dave Roberts, environmental crime officer at Wychavon District Council, said “Ensuring our parks, streets and open spaces are kept clean and tidy is very important to us and our residents.

"However, taking our residents to court is a last resort and we would much prefer to work with people and take the opportunity to educate them about fly-tipping and littering than fine them.”

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