Snoopers gave a mother a £600 fine and threatened her with jail after she put a cardboard box in the wrong bin.

Alison Mapletoft, 39, who runs a business from home, was caught putting a single piece of rubbish addressed to her company into a communal recycling after a private company employed by Brighton and Hove council went through the rubbish.

The mother-of-two, who paid the fine, has now called for an end for what she describes as intimidating tactics employed by 3GS, who told her over the phone that she could be taken to court and face a £2,500 fine of a prison sentence.

It comes after a Telegraph investigation found that the number of councils employing "litter police" to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for a range of minor offences has tripled in three years.

Members of the public are 20 times more likely to be hit with a fine in one of the 39 areas which contract out the work to private enforcers, in some cases allowing them to keep 100pc of the fine as payment in a system which critics say acts as an "incentive" to hand out tickets.

3GS have been employed by the Brighton and Hove council since April 2016 and keep 60 per cent of every fine that is paid, rising to 70 per cent for fly tipping.