Private enforcement officers raise thousands through fixed penalties

Fixed penalty tickets handed out by private enforcement officers in one Barnsley district have raised more than £2,600 in three months, with some young people caught breaking the law also forced to take part in '˜restorative justice' projects instead of being fined.
Hot spot: High Street in Goldthorpe is among areas targeted by Kingdom enforcement staff.Hot spot: High Street in Goldthorpe is among areas targeted by Kingdom enforcement staff.
Hot spot: High Street in Goldthorpe is among areas targeted by Kingdom enforcement staff.

The Dearne Area Council, a sub-group of Barnsley Council responsible for an area covering communities including Goldthorpe, Bolton on Dearne and Thurnscoe, employs a company called Kingdom to provide patrols in addition to those from the local authority’s own staff.

In the first three months of the current year, they have issued fixed penalties to 79 people seen to be littering and and other three to people who failed to clear up after their dogs while out in public.

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Four more were given tickets for parking offences, generating an income of £2,610 which will go back into the area council’s funds to help finance its work in the district.

With 465 hours spent on patrol over the three months, Kingdom staff are well ahead of their target for the year of time spent out on the streets.

Six young people have also been sent to take part in ‘restorative justice’ rather than being fined, with the aim of educating them to behave better rather than just issuing a punishment. That took the form of a litter pick, organised by Kingdom, which took place in June.

Some of those issued with fines have paid up, while others have pleaded guilty after court proceedings have been started.

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Where cases have got to court, Kingdom have a 99 per cent success rate in securing prosecutions.

In addition to routine patrols, Kingdom organise littering operations and those have been taking place in the Wilson Street, Co-operative Street and High Street areas, with leaflet drops carried out to warn residents of the consequences of littering and that action in the area is planned.