Buckinghamshire Council has come under fire on social media after a rubbish lorry was caught on video spilling litter along a roadside – weeks after a new scheme upped penalties for the offence to £500.

The video, uploaded to X by the Chiltern branch of the Green Party yesterday, Wednesday, August 28, shows the council lorry travelling along a road in Amersham and spilling bits of rubbish including crisp packets along the stretch.

 A spokesperson for the Chiltern Greens said the lorry had “littered all the way through” the town, adding: “Oops! Naughty littering from Buckinghamshire Council… will you be fining your own team £500?”

 

The council, which has been under Conservative majority control since it was created, rolled out a new anti-litter campaign headed by the slogan ‘For Bucks Sake’ in July – enforcing a fixed penalty notice of £500 for anyone caught deliberately littering in the county.

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Thomas Broom, cabinet member for climate change and environment at the local authority, was quick to say that the video “clearly wasn’t a case of deliberate littering”, meaning it wouldn’t be eligible for the fine, it also “obviously does not meet (the council’s) standards”.

He added: “We will be engaging directly with our contractor to ensure that this vehicle is inspected, and any defect corrected. The strict standards we set must be maintained.”

Speaking last month, announcing the ‘For Bucks Sake’ initiative, Cllr Broom described littering as “a huge blight on our community” that has “too long been seen as a low-impact misdemeanour”.

“Buckinghamshire is not unique in having problems with litter, but we are one of the first councils choosing to tackle the issue head-on with this hard-hitting, zero-tolerance approach.

“We want to send a message out loud and clear, we will not tolerate littering in Buckinghamshire. If you are caught, you will face a hefty penalty so take your rubbish home or dispose of it properly in a bin.”