THE company responsible for a huge rise in the amount of fines handed out to litter louts in Keighley and Bradford has pulled out of its contract, saying it was “not profitable enough”.

3GS will no longer be patrolling the streets of the district, with the role of litter enforcement now falling back to Bradford Council officers.

The news came as the council discussed plans to expand the 3GS litter patrols to the district’s suburbs and villages. Currently the teams are mainly focused on patrols in the city centre and Keighley.

In 2017 Bradford Council announced it had recruited the company as part of a new push to “get tough” on litter louts. Patrols would issue fines for people who drop litter, cigarette butts and food, or spit or urinate on the streets.

The introduction of the 3GS patrols led to the number of people fined for littering to skyrocket, and prosecutions for littering rose from just two in 2016 to almost 850 last year.

Money from the fines was divided between the company and Bradford Council, which re-invested it back into street cleansing.

At the meeting of full Council on January 15, Cllr Sarah Ferriby, portfolio holder for Environment, said 3GS had pulled out of their contract, and that the Council would not be looking at another external company to take their place.

She said: “Until quite recently 3GS have provided enforcement working alongside our wardens. It has become apparent that they found it unprofitable and terminated the contract.”

“We will continue to enforce this, we will now do it through our wardens service. The fixed penalty notices will go towards our street cleansing budget. By bringing the service back into the Council we will be providing the best possible value for Council Tax-payers.”

Speaking about littering in general, she added: “It is not only anti-social and unacceptable, but it leaves the majority of law-abiding people having to foot the bill.

“It falls upon Council Tax-payers across the district to foot the bill for cleaning up after these selfish individuals.

“The simple solution to the littering problem is for people to put their litter in the bin.”

At the same meeting, Cllr Debbie Davies had proposed a motion according to the Council to rethink planned £1 million cuts to street cleaning services in the district, as well as better use of community payback to tackle littering.

She praised the fact that 3GS had increased the amount of fines handed out, adding: “I hope our own wardens will be able to build on their success. If people are fined, then they will think twice about littering again.”

Cllr Ferriby submitted an amendment to the motion, calling for the Government to reverse “harmful” austerity cuts and make new funds available to tackle littering.

Her amendment was voted through by the Council.