ARE you a TOS53R?

If you chuck your disposable coffee cup out of the car window when you've finished with it, if you fly-tip your DIY rubbish in Dorset's beauty spots then, according to Dorset Waste Partnership, you are.

Now they are tackling the issue with a hard-hitting campaign which will see the message 'Don’t be a Tos53r' emblazoned on the sides of vans that deliver wheelie bins and remove fly-tipped waste in the county.

The striking message warns motorists they face a fine of up to £100 if anyone in their vehicle throws rubbish out of a window.

The national campaign was launched by Keep Britain Tidy and is run by Litter Free Dorset who are displaying it on Luton vans belonging to Dorset Waste Partnership. The three vans are based in Weymouth, Shaftesbury and Dorchester but travel around the county, taking the message with them.

The campaign follows the partnership’s success in turning 25 of its refuse and recycling vehicles into mobile billboards by fitting them with vehicle graphics systems.

Now the partnership, which collects and disposes of rubbish for more than 200,000 households across Dorset, wants to fit systems to more vehicles and run it alongside another campaign to remind residents they risk being fined if they use an unlicensed ‘man in a van’ to dispose of unwanted household items.

Dorset Waste Partnership's head of service, Gemma Clinton, said: “Running public information campaigns on refuse and recycling vehicles represents good value for money in comparison to alternative forms of advertising.

“By the very nature of their work the vans travel around rural Dorset as well as towns and the campaigns are seen by a lot of people.”

The campaigns are being run at a time when complaints about litter throughout Dorset are rising.

Just last week Cllr Cherry Brooks told the county audit and overview committee that some parts of the area were ‘knee deep in litter'.

And earlier this year fed-up Hamworthy residents said they were “appalled” after collecting 17 bags of rubbish left behind by litter louts in a two-hour clean-up in Rigler Road.