Barking and Dagenham Council has continued its campaign to clean up the borough by cracking down on people distributing calling cards for illegal massage services. 

Yesterday evening (30/10/19), an undercover enforcement officer witnessed two men dropping business cards in Barking Market and followed them to the A406 where they were questioned by street enforcement and trading standard officers. The incident was captured on CCTV which provides officers with essential evidence in dealing with these types of incidents. 

Both men from Redbridge, said they had been paid £10 by a girl in Upton Park to distribute the cards throughout Barking. 

Both men were issued with a Final Penalty Notice (FPN) of £150 each for littering and details of their home addresses in a neighbouring borough collected, which will hopefully provide more leads for further investigation. 

Councillor Margaret Mullane, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “Littering and fly tipping are things that bother us all, so I would like to commend the officers involved on a good result.

“Just last week, we launched our clean campaign, asking residents to play their part in helping us to keep the borough clean. This action by our enforcement team is further proof of our commitment to find perpetrators of grime crime, fine them and, where possible, prosecute them.”

Following the launch of the Cleaner Barking and Dagenham Campaign last week, this is just another step forward in the council’s agreement with residents to tidy up the borough.