A company director who dropped a cigarette butt in the car park at a KFC drive-thru was promptly issued with a £75 fine – by litter “police” who had just had lunch at the same restaurant.

But Roger Earle, director of an air conditioning firm based in London, questioned whether the three litter enforcement officers working for private firm Kingdom were genuinely customers of the KFC at Leeds Road – and whether they were allowed to carry out “operational duties” while on private property.

Mr Earle, who was working in Huddersfield at the time of the incident on June 7, said: ”I bought some food in the restaurant and came out to my van. I was having a cigarette, finished it and threw it out of the window.

“The next thing a man approached me. I could see he was some kind of official because he had a camera and all the rest of it.

“I remember him pointing down and asking if I knew why he was talking to me. I thought he must be from KFC and I hadn’t parked properly in the parking bay.

“He introduced himself, saying he was working for the council and that I’d just dropped the cigarette and he’d seen me doing it – and so had two other officers sitting in a car.”

Mr Earle said he did not dispute that he had dropped the litter and had paid the fine, but had still appealed, stating: “What I am disturbed by is the very unprofessional way the officers handle what is a criminal investigation.

“The officers were working from a car.

“My question on appeal hinged around whether they had the landowners’ permission to park a car on the property for operational reasons, if they were not customers.”

He said the sign in the car park stated it was for customers’ use only.

After a lengthy exchange of emails, Kingdom said the officers had been into the restaurant for lunch. Mr Earle said he did not see them in the restaurant or going back and forth. He said: “I might seem like a petty thing, but this is serious stuff.”

Kirklees Council put Cheshire-based firm Kingdom in charge of enforcing littering, dog fouling and a range of other environmental policies in April last year.

The Examiner reported earlier this year how shoppers at Sainsbury’s at Shorehead were handed £75 by Kingdom officers – prompting a reader to ask whether they were allowed to operate on private property.

At the time, a Kirklees Council spokesperson said Kingdom were permitted to issue notices to people dropping litter on private land.

Regarding the KFC incident, Karl Battersby, strategic director for economy and infrastructure at Kirklees, said: “The council has commissioned Kingdom to reduce the amount of litter being dropped in Kirklees by issuing penalty notices.

“Dropping litter on any land is an offence unless the landowner has given the litterer permission.

“As such Kingdom are permitted to issue notices to people dropping litter on private land.

Video Loading

“We haven’t asked them to specifically target KFC and the areas where Kingdom’s operatives work day to day are not set by the council.

“The council is, however, committed to ensuring that we tackle littering hotspots throughout the district and will direct Kingdom to these when they come to our attention.

“We will be reviewing all elements of our enforcement strategy when the current contract comes to an end later this year.”