As per this article from The Mail Online, ministers are considering a change in the law that means anyone dropping litter from a vehicle could be liable to pay a fine of £80 – however it’ll be the driver that gets billed for it! This may not be the case if a passenger can be proven directly responsible.
I might not have many political leanings, but what I do know is that dropping litter really annoys me so I see no reason why this shouldn’t be the case. There will be those that say ‘well it’s just a bit of litter’ but that’s the whole reason why councils have to clean up so damn much and thus spend higher amounts on bills, especially in urban environments.
As I always say, if you’re driving then you’ve got even more responsibility than you would do than if you were a pedestrian on foot. I’m sure that some think that because they’re in a car they can ‘throw and drive’ when this shouldn’t be the case. If you don’t have a bag to put something in (not that you should be eating/drinking/anything else behind the wheel anyway) just chuck it in the footwell until you get home and can dispose of it properly!
Fully agreed that littering should be fined, but the driver pays rule will cause some serious arguments between the passenger and driver!
Fully agree that drivers need to be more responsible about litter, open window throw it out and then it’s forgotten. Maybe now it will make people think twice.
Where I live it tends to be discarded Mc,Donalds wrappings and everything that goes with it, cartons, bags etc which would lead me to think that it is the younger drivers, not meaning to tar every young driver with the same brush as there are just as many young responsible people about as there are older people.