Councils across Britain are employing environmental enforcement officers with no qualifications to police their streets by handing out fines for littering and spitting.

Workers are being sent out on daily foot patrols in an attempt to catch people and issue Fixed Penalty Notices under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

They are given the power to issue on-the-spot fines of up to £500 to those spotted dropping small items such as food wrappers, chewing gum and cigarette ends.

Anyone failing to pay the amount within a specified period can face legal proceedings from the council, ending up with a fine of up to £2,500 at a magistrates' court.

Officers earn from £30,000 to £46,000 a year - plus an average of £3,000 in extras such as bonuses, based on 2,200 salaries submitted to jobs website Glassdoor.

Among the London councils currently advertising for environmental enforcement officers is Wandsworth Council, which has a full-time position at £14.80 per hour.

Southwark Council has a similar full-time role paying £15.55 an hour or £34,365 a year; while Lambeth Council is offering a job at £16.25 an hour or £35,913 a year.

Local authorities tend not to require specific qualifications for the role, although some ask for basic IT skills in report writing and say a driving licence is preferred.

Others ask for strong communication skills and reliability as well as the ability to work independently and be 'comfortable working outdoors in all weather conditions'.

The worker will sometimes have to prepare and submit relevant cases for trial and assist legal services in presenting cases to court and attending as a witness.

They have the legal authority to require the full name and address of anyone they propose to fine under Section 88 (8A–8C) of the Environmental Protection Act.

It is a separate criminal offence to refuse to give one of the officers your personal details under Section 8(A) of the act - with a maximum penalty of £1,000 possible.

A police officer can arrest anyone who is stopped by an environmental enforcement officer and does not give them their name and address - or provides false details. 

Councils across the UK issued around 200,000 littering fines last year - bringing in about £48million in revenue, according to the campaign group Clean Up Britain.

Responses to Freedom of Information requests sent to all 382 UK councils by the organisation found local authorities using private companies average 1,441 littering fines per year, while the figure was 117 for those relying solely on in-house teams.

Councils using both approaches averaged nearly 3,800, while the average fine levied across all councils was £192. Labour-controlled councils issued 77 per cent of all fines, and the ten councils that issued the most fines were all controlled by the party.

The number of councils employing private companies to issue fines for littering has been growing, with the latest total given as 76 in a 2023 report - up ten on 2022, according to FOI data collated by civil liberties campaign group the Manifesto Club.

Councils have been able to fine people for dropping litter since 1958 when the Litter Act was passed which gave powers for maximum initial fines of up to £10.

The 1990 Environmental Protection Act then established the modern framework for FPNs, with the maximum fine for littering increased in 2023 from £150 to £500.

People spitting in the street can be prosecuted under section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which states that it is an offence when someone 'throws down, drops or otherwise deposits' litter and then leaves it.

In 2013, Waltham Forest Council in East London become the first local authority to successfully prosecute people under this law for spitting in public.

Some councils also have a borough-wide Public Spaces Protection Order which is enforced under the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Several other London boroughs including Hounslow and Enfield deploy private contractors to issue fines for spitting in public.

Last December, Brent Council in North West London said it was spending £30,000 a year cleaning pavements and buildings across Wembley stained with a reddish-brown substance from people spitting out a stimulant called paan.

Paan is a mix of betel nut, tobacco and spices wrapped in a leaf and has been used for centuries by some communities as a palate cleanser or breath freshener. But it also gives the user a narcotic effect and leaves unsightly stains when spat out.

The Daily Mail has documented a series of reports of overzealous enforcement officers handing out fines for littering or spitting.

Just last week a man was issued with a £200 fine by an enforcement officer in Poole, Dorset, when he dropped a teabag from his McDonald's cup on the ground.

Peter Murray said he was sitting in his car with a cup of tea when he went to remove the used bag but it burnt his fingers, so he threw it in the direction of his car door pocket.

He claims he did not realise it missed and actually fell through his open door and landed on the ground – before an officer approached and issued him with a £200 fine for littering.

Also this month, a woman enjoying a lunchtime sandwich in Ealing, west London, was slapped with a £150 fine after tossing a crust to a pigeon.

Holly Piper, 36, said she was approached by two council enforcement officers, who issued her with a fixed penalty notice on the spot.

The English tutor challenged the fine, arguing she had simply fed a bird, but her appeal was rejected.

Last October, Burcu Yesilyurt said she was stopped by three enforcement officers in Richmond, south-west London, and fined £150 after being caught pouring the remnants of her coffee into a drain before catching a bus.

She was fined under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which makes it an offence to deposit or dispose of waste in a way likely to pollute land or water, including pouring liquids into street drains. 

But Richmond-Upon-Thames Council later cancelled the fine because it believed an appeal would have been successful.

A separate incident in Skegness, Lincolnshire, in February last year saw 86-year-old Roy Marsh fined £250 for spitting out a leaf that blew into his mouth.

Mr Marsh was told by an enforcement officer that he had been seen spitting on the floor. The fine was later reduced upon appeal to £150, which he paid – but he later said the incident had left him 'anxious about going out'.

More recently, unwell commuter Alberto Tandoi was fined £250 for allegedly spitting on the grass in public in Haringey, north London, on his way to work last month – despite insisting he was coughing.

Mr Tandoi, 46, initially believed the private enforcement officer who confronted him was checking whether he was feeling okay – but was left stunned upon realising he would receive an FPN when the officer began taking his details.

It comes after Haringey Council revealed in March last year that it had brought in 15 extra environmental enforcement officers to its existing team who would be deployed across the borough. 

Enforcement officers also hit the headlines in Harrow last weekend after two were filmed threatening to 'knock out' a member of the public.

The local authority in north-west London sacked the duo who intimidated a man on the street after accusing him of 'messing with our money'.

One of them told him, 'when I'm not in uniform, I'm gonna knock you the f*** out and rip your teeth out', before adding: 'I'll come and throw you through the f****** walls.'

It was not made clear what the argument was about, but Harrow Council condemned the incident as 'unacceptable' The officers worked for private firm Kingdom Services Group, having been contracted by the council.

Kingdom confirmed the men no longer worked for the company, adding that 'any threats of violence towards members of the public are wholly unacceptable and will not be tolerated'.