Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Is this a Haringey council over-reaction?
In today's Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/may/11/fined-500-cigarette-b...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Neil Ford
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500! That's nuts. 60 / 30 is paid quicky seems appropriate.
On that note, to get a street parking space reserved for removals vans costs a mere £360!!!
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In 2023 the government legislated for higher maximum on-the-spot fines for littering and flytipping if councils so wished. Haringey's gone for the maximum, many councils haven't.
See here for Haringey's 'Increased enforcement team' press release from a year ago, with picture so you can identify the working uniform. The contractor is Kingdom Services Group Ltd. According to a very long document here on page 3 it reads
"the cost of the services will continue to be cost neutral, as the income generated through FPNs is transferred to the Council, with 34.5% being shared to Kingdom to offset the cost to deliver the services."
So they get £170 a pop.
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There is a loophole that everyone can use to avoid an on-the-spot fine. Just don't litter or flytip!
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Permalink Reply by Cat A
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The problem is that there have been a few cases of rubbish that was properly disposed of ending up on the floor outside the bin due to foxes/dumpster divers/high winds, and if that included packaging with names and addresses on it, those people then being accused of fly tipping and fined £500 for it. I don't know whether any of them have actually paid up, but it's happened enough that people in my block of flats were saying to remove your address from anything going in the communal bins, just in case. If Kingdom are getting £170 for each person they fine, that may explain why they aren't applying common sense to it
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'Fine of £600 for wind-blown rubbish is cancelled' - another one, Haringey from Sept 2025.
Full story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg6ydy2v4eo
"[She] said she always ripped boxes apart before putting them in the bins and she believed heavy winds carried it during the collection".
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Permalink Reply by Maddy
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I think also they tend to go after the 'easy pickings' as that ups their 'success' statistics, while the people who regularly fly tip make sure they can't be identified.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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YES. As a Councillor I once attended a briefing about a trial period of this company. It had a patchy record. I seem to remember that the trial was discontinued, so I'm surprised if its still being used.
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And yet some grill restaurants are able to pump out toxic fumes with the council's knowledge and no action is taken
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It’s what happens when councils employ “pay by results” private contractors for what should be a public service. Camden shopkeepers have reported similar problems, with uniformed “enforcement officers” barging into premises on the pretext of having found identifiable “flytipped” rubbish outside after it was legitimately left out for council collection. No commercial contractor is going to go to the expense and time of tracking down those genuinely flytipping old mattresses or domestic waste when they can make a much faster buck from minor infringements such as littering. (Anecdotal memory of a similar deal is that years ago Westminster had to re-negotiate their commercial traffic warden contract, 6 months after taking responsibility from the Met for parking control, when the private contractor complained they weren’t making enough money in commission on tickets because too many people were parking legally. “Low-hanging fruit” becomes the key target when income relies on the volume of PCNs issued rather than any real intention to make life better for everyone.)
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