City imposes £80 fines for dropped cigarettes
December 2, 2009 by Staff · 2 Comments
Smokers are being warned they risk fines and even prosecution if they’re caught dropping cigarette butts within the City of London.
The warning comes as the City of London Corporation launches its ‘No ifs. No Butts.’ campaign and promises to “adopt a tough approach” to anyone dropping smoking-related litter on the City’s streets.
Businesses within the Square Mile have already been encouraged to ensure they have sufficient ’smoking bins’ on their premises.
A team of 10 ‘Street Environment Officers’ will issue £80 Fixed Penalty Notices to those caught breaking the rules. City officials are warning that anyone found to be giving false contact details to the teams risks a court summons and a fine of up to £1,000.
Philip Everett, Director of Environmental Services, City of London Corporation said: “As the campaign’s name suggests, we’re taking a tough line on people who litter our streets. The City of London takes great pride in working with businesses for a cleaner and more attractive Square Mile, and we expect this campaign to have an impact on people’s behaviour, if not their purses and wallets when they are caught dropping litter. It can be time-consuming to clean it up, and we are keen to work with City firms to prevent it.”
Can I point out to the City Of London that you are not obliged in law to divulge your name and address to anyone apart from a policeman or PCSO. If they want to make a scene get them to call the police as they do not want their time wasted on such trivial matters.
I appreciate because of terrorist threats that there are very few litter bins, but there are specific smoking bins they are realtively small that can be monted discretely on walls.
I trust that they’ll be equally conscientious in tackling those who drop other kinds of litter otherwise it might be thought that smokers are being singled out for bullying. Quelle idee!