Sign up to FREE email alerts from KentLive - Daily Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A shop worker has claimed she was "bullied" into accepting a fine for dropping a cigarette butt when she hadn't been smoking.

Debbie Atkins, of Boleyn Avenue in Westbrook, said litter enforcement officers walked into the shop she was working in on Tuesday (January 8).

The representatives had been working for Kingdom Local Authority Support Division, which is a private firm brought in by Thanet District Council to police littering and dog fouling.

Mrs Atkins, who has worked at the same shop in Station Road for 13 years, said she had gone out to her car before returning into the shop when she was accused of dropping rubbish.

The 53-year-old told Kent Live: "About 10 minutes later, this man came in. He didn't announce himself but wanted me to give him my details.

Kingdom and Thanet District Council have been approached for comment but had not responded by the time of publication.

"Then he accused me of throwing a cigarette butt on the floor, but I didn't. I said please show me the footage but he said he couldn't as there is none.

"I asked 'how come he could film me then, but couldn't film me supposedly dropping a cigarette on the floor?'

"But he didn't answer that question.

"It just kept going back and forth. There was no way he was having my details and I kept refusing."

'I got fed up with them intimidating me'

(Image: Frank Leppard)

The mum-of-two said she initially gave the officers a false name as she felt "intimidated".

When one of the officers stepped outside, she started filming the incident.

She said the ordeal lasted from 5.50pm to 6.25pm and that the representatives only left the building when a ticket had been accepted.

"I gave him a false name, Regina Phalange that Phoebe Buffay uses in Friends, and he put that on the ticket," she added.

"Then all of a sudden he stood outside on the phone so I started filming on my mobile. He was speaking to the call centre of the police.

"His colleague then came up to me and tried to intimidate me.

"I had customers in the shop and he was just going on and on.

"I had got fed up of them intimidating me in my place of work."

(Image: Frank Leppard)

Mrs Atkins said she saw both officers get into a white unmarked car and drive off once she had been issued her ticket.

The ordeal, she said, left her feeling "bullied" into admitting something she had not done.

She added: "It was really scary, I am about 5 ft tall.

"I am not a big lady and I am 53 years old and to have these two men come in and harass me, bully me and intimidate me."

Mrs Atkins' husband Tommy is worried this could happen to those more vulnerable than his wife.

He added: "She hadn't even been smoking out the front.

"The way they were going on in the video, they were trying to intimidate her.

"Imagine they had targeted someone elderly - they would have run riot.

"If that had been a timid old lady that would have put the frighteners on her."

Who are Kingdom?

The litter enforcement officers are a private firm which are brought in by some authorities in Kent to tackle litter dropping.

The company's website says that 75 per cent of all the penalty charge notices handed out are paid, which means a total of £3.3 million has been raised in the last year for a selection of councils.

A statement on its website reads: "Kingdom officers undertake a comprehensive training program and operate under some of the tightest legal guidelines , which are robustly quality managed by an experienced and well-resourced team and infrastructure with exceptional customer service skills."

Councils such as Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Ealing and Wirral Council have employed them across their cities and boroughs.