Fifteen people have been fined and almost 900 have been given formal warnings by council bin snoopers for leaving their bins out or putting rubbish in extra bags.

Council enforcement officers have handed out the £100 fixed penalty notices to the persistent offenders who left their wheelie bins "littering" the streets or with too much rubbish after receiving warnings in a crackdown over the past 18 months.

The fine is higher than the maximum £80 fixed penalty notices which can be dished out by police for a variety of offences,
including thugs who cause criminal damage, get caught with drugs, shout drunken abuse or end up fighting.

A council spokesman said: "The majority of people when they get one of these (warning) letters are abiding by it."

He said the council has one full-time and one part-time enforcement officer who also concentrate on fly-tipping and other litter issues.

Since April last year council bin spies have issued 890 warning letters, the majority to homes in places with backstreets such as the Canaries area of Deepdale and Fishwick.

Doretta Cocks, of website weeklywaste.com, said the fines were a "ridiculous amount" and added: "It is a very nice little earner for the council."

Mum-of-two Amanda Clarkson, 29, of Derby Square, Ribbleton, where bins are often left at the front of homes, said: "I don't put my bin at the back because my kids play there and it is unhygienic. As long as the rubbish is in the bin, I don't see the problem."

Sajid Palewala, 27, of St George's Road, Deepdale, where bin crews have cleaned up fly-tipped rubbish, said: "Some people do go over the top with domestic waste, but it is more about educating people that this is not appropriate."

The figures emerged just weeks after Preston Council voted down a motion by Lib Dem councillor Mark Jewell to restrict use of spying powers to snitch on dog walkers and council tax dodgers.

Preston Council leader, Ken Hudson, said: "I was under the impression the people we were targeting were people who actually left them out all week.People who have been fined are perpetual offenders."

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