Only a tiny fraction of litter louts are ever fined, a Manx Independent investigation has revealed.

The newspaper surveyed six of the largest local authorities in the Isle of Man.

Douglas Council has been successful in issuing spot fines in only 15% of littering incidents reported over the past five years. During the same period, Ramsey had issued 19 spot fines, which resulted in three escalations for failure to pay, whereas Port Erin, Onchan and Castletown had issued none.

Onchan and Castletown said most issues had been dealt with by verbal warnings or ’words of advice’.

Peel Commissioners could supply information for only the past three years, which had seen five spot fines issued.

One reader, who asked to remain anonymous, contacted the Manx Independent about the issue. He said he had reported more than 100 littering offences to Douglas Council over the past few years.

’The council says it wants to know, yet of all the reports I’ve made, I’ve only ever been notified of two incidents of them being fined,’ he said.

’I just want to know, why? What is actually being done around the island to prevent littering?’

Douglas Council told the Manx Independent it had issued 31 fixed penalty notices over the past five years, despite having 228 incidents reported to them in the same period, representing a success rate of under 15%.

A spokesman for Douglas Council explained the difficulty in issuing fines and achieving prosecutions.

’Being issued with a fixed penalty notice (FPN) effectively discharges an individual’s liability to prosecution,’ he said.

’While at first sight the figure of 31 FPNs issued and one prosecution pursued successfully in the last five years may appear modest, local authorities would only issue an FPN where there is demonstrable evidence beyond reasonable doubt that a prosecution would be viable.

’Simply put, for the FPN to be issued the offender must be seen dropping litter and that includes cigarette ends.

’The council has put in place a robust enforcement policy which instructs its borough wardens to issue FPNs in cases where the offender shows clear intent to drop litter, irrespective of whether the offender subsequently picks it up or not.’

Last month, an initiative that linked Beach Buddies, Isle of Man Friends of the Earth, Douglas Council and primary schools set out to remind people to ’Love Where You Live’ in a campaign to clear litter from Douglas and the island as a whole.

At the time, the council’s environmental services committee chairman, Councillor Ritchie McNicholl said: ’We’re pleased to be joining Beach Buddies in this initiative, as it builds on the council’s long-running series of "Big Tidy Up" campaigns and complements our support of Love Where You Live, which we launched in October last year. Litter is very much a community problem that demands a community response. Our street cleansing teams do all they can but the council alone cannot rid the town of litter; to achieve that, it has to be a shared endeavour.

’It’s about changing attitudes and behaviour, and encouraging communities to develop a strong sense of civic pride. Initiatives such as this can help to raise awareness and make a very real difference - hopefully not just for the life of the campaign, but for the long-term future of our town and our island.’

Recently Beach Buddies founder Bill Dale appealed for CCTV on Marine Drive to prevent people dumping rubbish there.

Since people have been charged for leaving large electrical items such as television sets and refrigerators at local authority tips, there has been in increase in fly-tipping.

Complaints about litter in Douglas can be made to www.reportit.im or call 696300.

The Manx Independent’s comment column is about this topic.