Law - Fines

Thousands of vandals, drunks and hoaxers now face on-the-spot fines of up to £80 under a new crackdown on street crime. The move follows Tony Blair's much-mocked promise to have yobs frogmarched to cash machines to be fined for anti-social behaviour. He was forced to back down after police argued it would be impractical. A heavily altered version of the scheme will now go ahead in three pilot areas, the West Midlands, Essex and Croydon, spreading to North Wales in September.

Offenders will get fixed-penalty tickets, like those dished out for speeding, for such offences as being drunk and disorderly, using threatening behaviour, making hoax 999 calls, wasting police time or throwing things at trains. The fines will range from £40 to £80. Offenders can pay immediately or at a police station - but the Home Office stresses there is no longer any plan to take them to cash machines to withdraw the money. And in most cases the tickets will be issued not on the street but in police cells.

Oliver Letwin, Shadow Home Secretary, said: 'We are sceptical about whether on-the-spot fines will work but the point of the pilot is to establish whether that scepticism or the Government's optimism is justified.'

Police sources have warned that forcing officers to walk around 'like bus conductors' dishing out the tickets could cause new friction between police and communities, and could mean offences which should be taken more seriously will be dismissed with a ticket.

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said many recipients would simply fail to pay. 'The amount of unpaid fines in this country is already enormous and the number of people who will simply stand there and be given a ticket for a subjective offence is pretty small.'

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