Maidstone Borough Council says it was not aware of the extent of a bonus system used by the company it employs to run its litter warden service.

Officers working for Kingdom Security are being paid substantial ‘litter competency allowances’ according to a BBC report.

Inside the Litter Police which aired on Monday saw an undercover Panorama reporter working alongside enforcement officers in Bexley.

During filming one employee told the reporter he once received a bonus of £987 while working in Ashford.

He said after issuing four fines in a day officers start to earn bonuses of £5 for further tickets, which increase to £6 after seven fines are handed out.

In October – after we reported how officers were back on duty having been suspended after one fined a woman for feeding ducks – MBC denied Kingdom’s employees were paid any kind of commission.

A council spokesman this week denied it had any knowledge of the ticket-based pay system but stressed the litter competency allowance is also determined by factors such as attendance.

Kingdom splits the proceeds of each £80 fine 50/50 with the authority employing them.

At one point during the undercover filming one enforcement officer admits regularly pretending to phone the police in order to encourage the public to hand over personal details.

Another officer admitted tricking people into stepping away from dropped litter in order to improve chances of a successful prosecution, as in order to take someone to court there must be proof they intended to leave rubbish behind.

During a training session a manager says the company is only interested in working with councils who want to adopt a hard line approach, revealing the company – which works for 28 councils – had “just got rid of two councils because they are not profitable they just won’t let us enforce in the way that we need to.

"They want it to be all to be pink and fluffy and they want to give people warnings and cautions.”

The number of fines issued has risen from 727 10 years ago to more than 140,000 last year.

MBC has been approached for comment on whether it intends to keep employing Kingdom.