Kingdom Security

[SteveH]

Second North Wales council bins Kingdom Security in battle to tackle dog mess and fly-tipping
However, the authority will continue to use the St Helens-based firm to issue parking tickets until year-long trial ends in the winter.

Kingdom Security has attracted criticism for the alleged tactics its staff are said to use to issue fines of up to £75 to anyone seen littering in public.

Earlier this month, Gwynedd Council pulled the plug on its partnership with the St Helens-based firm just two days after its officers started patrolling the county’s streets.

Now Anglesey Council have announced that it will no longer continue with its 12-month trial after May 2018.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/second-north-wales-council-stop-14437832

(The company Kingdom, which recorded profits of £9m last year, hands out fines for littering and dog fouling across Flintshire, Wrexham, Conwy, Denbighshire and Anglesey.)

[SteveH]

Kingdom contract extended so council can continue to make cash out of controversial litter enforcement fines
Conwy bucks the trend by giving the littering firm another 12 months as it fears a loss of revenue of around £200,000.

"Concern had been raised about the number of fines it hands out to people for dropping cigarette butts compared to other littering offences"

Glyn county councillor Chris Hughes supported the extension of the contract, saying that he had heard very few complaints about Kingdom.    ?   ?    ?

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/kingdom-contract-extended-council-can-14867806

[born2run]

Revenue is of course 100% the reason.

Hmmmm I wonder should we give up our nice 200k profit and spend about another quarter of a million funding it ourselves, or shall we let the stasi carry on for another year?

  bit of a no brainer.

The problem though is clear to see, these gangsters make more money if they fine more people, they'll lose money and even their job if they don't fine enough. Now the only evidence that they need to fine someone is their 'word' that they saw the culprit do it (they only start filming after the alleged offence has taken place)

So of course if they are running short of their targets they are going to "see" things that didn't happen. 

[SteveH]

If they were not allowed to issue tickets to smokers, and had to concentrate on dog fouling and litter, KS would give up the contract themselves. 

[DVT]

OK, so Council "lose" £200k by not employing Kingdom.  So, if they lose that much then the total amount of the fines must be a lot more ... which means a lot of visitors will be getting penalised, as locals generally know about it.

I wonder if Council has worked out the loss of revenue value to the town by losing these visitors - they make a big thing about how much the vistotis are worth to the town for such events as the Extravaganza, Armed Fores and Wales Rally GB ... so there must be a big loss of income by deterring visitirs from arriving in the first place.  Have any such figures been worked out?

[Ian]

Very good points.  Over to a councillor or two for a response.

[mondie]

As a newcomer to the area, I find the whole Kingdom thing hypocritical. The amount of litter that is produced by the ridiculous recycling system we have exceeds anything a few individuals create, Kingdom should be fining the council for their frankly piss poor recycling system. We live on a narrow, windy peninsula so plenty of it finds its way to either beach.

[Ian]

Excellent points;  the only litter we see when we're out walking is from the recycling trucks.

[norman08]

We had a meeting with one of the bosses from ERF  He admitted the middle box was far too small But what can we do about it ,  Duh go back to the drawing board.  Looking at the state of the bins in town/ the prom would you put your hands near them ,on my travels when they empty the bins they spray clean them .

[Meleri]

At the CCBC Cabinet meeting today they voted to renew the contract with Kingdom Security until the new financial year (end of March 2019). They are adding strict caveats that Kingdom employees do not go on private land (as they did at Zip World), also the officers must be more visible (so no hiding around ready to pounce)and they must cover a greater geographic spread and not just concentrate on prime areas (so patrol more rural areas with less rich pickings). In the meantime CCBC are setting up a Scrutiny Task & Finish Group to look into what needs to be done after the nine months are up. Such as a positive alternative to Kingdom possibly in house, which will include no targets for fines with a positive attitude to encourage visitors to bring their dogs on holiday and not scare them off. There was a bit of conflict between Councillors where Cllr Chris Hughes suggested Kingdom should follow the local bin lorries and see what a mess they are leaving and it had been reported to him bin men were taking black bags out of the bins and deliberately leaving them on the pavements which is in fact littering. Cllr Don Milne told him continually mentioning this fact was not being helpful. In all it will be interesting to see what they come up with.

[born2run]

We did some litter picking on Conwy Morfa beach yesterday - got about 7 bin bags of rubbish, never seen any Kingdom officers down there, much more profitable to stand in Mostyn Street and make 70 quid every time someone throws a fag down

[SteveH]

Quote from Meleri's post above.....  " They are adding strict caveats that Kingdom employees do not go on private land (as they did at Zip World), also the officers must be more visible (so no hiding around ready to pounce)and they must cover a greater geographic spread and not just concentrate on prime areas (so patrol more rural areas with less rich pickings)."

Controversial litter enforcement company, Kingdom is quitting Conwy .

The firm has given notice to the council that it does not want to extend its contract after August 9.
The firm, which hands out fines to litter bugs, has been at the centre of much controversy over its dealings with members of the public.
Concern had been raised about the number of fines it hands out and where staff from the company focus their attentions, with rural councillors saying the rules are rarely enforced in their wards.

Last week the council’s cabinet voted to offer to extend the contract beyond August until the end of the financial year in March.

But Kingdom has told the council it’s not interested and no longer wants to work in Conwy.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/kingdom-gone-controversial-litter-enforcers-14941406[quote

[born2run]

 

Great news. It shows people power can work.

[Merddin Emrys]

Good riddance to them! 😁

[born2run]

I hope they close down the anti kingdom facebook page now, it really is not doing them any good. The people who run it and regularly contribute seem to have become obsessed to the point it's taking over their lives. They have also taken to directing slanderous and untrue comments at various Labour councillors.