Serial litter bug caught out by receipts after dumping fast food wrappers in Upper Caldecote

A serial litterbug had to pay out £150 for their fast food – after dumping the wrappers after discarding fast food wrappers in a village verge.

Villagers were dismayed when KFC and McDonald's wrappers were regularly thrown into a verge on Ickwell Road, Upper Caldecote, until one eagle-eyed resident noticed that the receipts were stapled to the bags.

Thanks to the help of an environmental protection officer (EPO) at Central Bedfordshire Council and Hatfield's KFC and McDonald's franchises, the culprit was then able to be tracked down and punished.

The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed: "For many months a mystery criminal had been discarding his takeaway meals on the verge of Ickwell Road. But in January (see the frost on that bag) I realised for the first time that the idiot who'd been chucking away his takeaways on Ickwell Rd, Upper Caldecote had left his receipts stapled to the bag - from Hatfield drive-thru KFC, date and time (to the second), the name of the server, everything a prosecution could need.

"In the end, the EPO got CCTV from both KFC and McDonald's showing the same man in the same van buying the takeaways at the times the receipts said, and got the driver details from the DVLA.

"The EPO went the extra mile, and seems to have achieved something other EPO's have not attempted. It might seem trivial, but you'd be surprised how many people, especially kids, detest litter."

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokesman said: “We were contacted by a member of the public to investigate fast food litter being discarded in a layby on Ickwell Road, Upper Caldecote, with the complainant providing images of the litter and receipts.

“Our officer made enquiries and viewed CCTV from the fast-food outlets spotting an image of the person allegedly involved in the fly-tipping in a vehicle.

“The driver of the vehicle was contacted, and we conducted an interview under caution. The driver fully admitted the offence and was issued with two littering fixed penalty notices for £150 each, in relation to the two offences which were captured on CCTV. As the fixed penalty notices were paid within eight days, the driver only had to pay £75 for each ticket.”