Motorists who were seen dumping waste in a Wallington car park have been slapped with penalty fines after they were caught in the act.

Shotfield car park, in Stanley Park Road, has been deemed by authorities as a hotspot for people illegally dumping large amounts of rubbish next to clothes recycling bins.

In a Facebook post, police say it has been a location of “significant issue” and people caught red-handed have been issued with fines.

Since September 1, 10 penalties – each worth £80 – were dished out following the crackdown, with footage of the perpetrators being captured on CCTV cameras.

While some people are happy about the action, others remain unconvinced, and it comes as Sutton Guardian previously revealed no fly-tippers in Sutton had been prosecuted for eight years.

READ: Revealed: no fly-tippers have been prosecuted in Sutton during past EIGHT years

One user wrote: “It’s a start, but what about dealing with the more serious issue of organised fly-tipping where charges have not yet been brought against the perpetrators – as previously reported in the Sutton Guardian?”

Another commented: “The cause of this should be looked into, rather than lazily just slapping fines around.”

At the time of publishing, this newspaper had showed that the number of fly-tippers who were prosecuted for illegally dumping their rubbish in the borough since 2010 was zero.

That was despite thousands of reported incidents, a number which had more than doubled between March 2015 and April 2016 according to data obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

While the Government granted councils beefed-up powers to help tackle fly-tipping with on-the-spot fixed penalty notices (FPNs) in May 2016, only seven had been dished out by Sutton Council.

At the time, a council spokesman said: “The team inherited a significant backlog of issues and work, hence the delay until after May 2017 before there was the capacity to issue FPNs.

“The problem of fly-tipping is often less than the general perception, and reports come in many forms, including where rubbish has been disposed of on private land.

“Each case is judged on its merits and there are a number of options available to deal with offenders.”

He added that he couldn’t comment on decisions made by officers several years ago regarding prosecutions, he stressed action had been taken since a new shared service was introduced.

If caught, fly-tippers can be punished with a fine of up to £50,000 or a year in prison if they’re convicted in a magistrates’ court.

That or an unlimited fine and a five-year jail term in a crown court.