The litter fine layby near the M25 where 'wild wee' drivers are caught

By Laurence Cawley

BBC News, Hertfordshire

A council embroiled in a “wild wee” row has issued hundreds of penalties to people relieving themselves at the side of just one road, it has emerged.

Dacorum Borough Council hit the headlines after it fined a man with a weakened prostate for littering after he relieved himself next to the A41.

One of those fined accused the council of using the desperate road users as “cash cows”.

The council has previously said urinating in laybys was “unpleasant”.

The BBC obtained three years of public urination fine data from the council. The figures reveal more than 98% of all the fines issued in 2023 were dished out at laybys on the A41 near King’s Langley.

Dacorum Borough Council was criticised by Nick Freeman, a lawyer popularly known as Mr Loophole, after it fined Michael Mason for littering when he relieved himself at a layby beside the A41 late last year.

In its initial response to the BBC, Dacorum claimed that “urination is classified as litter by the Environmental Protection Act 1990”.

The fine issued to Mr Mason, from Winslow in Buckinghamshire, was subsequently cancelled after he spent £30 on a letter from his GP proving he had a weakened prostate.

At the time, the BBC asked District Enforcement, contracted by the council to deal with what it calls “enviro-crimes”, whether it had targeted this particular layby to catch people spending a penny before joining the M25.

However, the data obtained by the BBC shows the location given in 762 of the 776 fixed penalty notices for public urination in 2023 was “A41 Layby”.

The figures also show how the number of public urination fines rose 38,800% from just two in 2021 to 10 in 2022 to more than 770 last year.

One those fined was 73-year-old Tony Leach, who was driving from Maidstone in Kent to his granddaughter’s 18th birthday when he stopped at an A41 layby near King’s Langley last November.

Like Mr Mason, Mr Leach has a medically-substantiated prostate issue.

He said he was in “desperate need to relieve” himself after two hours of driving.

He said he was very mindful about where he relieved himself and said at the time the only vehicle around was an articulated lorry.

“I chose a spot that was unlikely to cause any offence to anybody,” he said. “But when I turned around there was a guy right behind me who said I was on camera and that he was issuing me a fixed penalty notice for an apparent breach of the Environmental Protection Act.

“I was pretty cheesed off.”

Responding to the council’s fine data, Mr Leach said: “It beggars belief. They are treating motorists as cash cows.

“The other thing that bothers me is they are finding motorists relieving themselves for littering, but have they looked at that road? There’s loads of real litter there which is not actually being dealt with.”

He added the number of fines issued suggested there was a strong need for a public toilet there.

Both the council and District Enforcement were approached for comment in light of the data. Neither responded.

However, the council has previously said: “Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) are issued for urinating in public laybys, along a busy stretch of the A41 dual carriageway, and not ‘wild wees’ in woodlands or countryside.”

The council said urinating in the layby created “an unpleasant experience for drivers wishing to stop for a rest, to care for children or for emergencies – the purpose for which the laybys are intended”.

It added: “We have sought independent legal advice on the use of littering FPNs for urination, as have many other councils, and we are satisfied that urination can be covered by the relevant legislation.”

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