A smoker ended up in court - for dropping a cigarette butt in a Telford street. David Jinks was hauled before magistrates after refusing to pay a £50 penalty for littering.
He admitted the offence when he appeared in court yesterday and was hit with an £80 fine and ordered to pay £50 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Telford & Wrekin Council brought the prosecution against 20-year-old Jinks, of Haybridge Avenue, Hadley. He appeared at Telford Magistrates Court yesterday, where he admitted dropping the cigarette end in Crescent Road, Hadley, on January 15.
The court heard how a police community support officer caught him in the act and handed him a £50 fixed penalty notice.Mrs Lorraine Fowkes, prosecuting, said the council had contacted the defendant on three occasions to remind him of the penalty, but had received no response.
She said: “While it’s easy to view this as minor when taken in isolation, I would invite the court to take a wider view of the issue.”
She said the council cleared up more than 200 tonnes of litter at a cost of £2 million per year, saying littering caused people to have negative views of areas.
Mrs Fowkes said: “This encourages more littering and gives people the false impression that this type of activity is acceptable.”
Mrs Fowkes asked for £300 prosecution costs.
Jinks, representing himself, said: “The day I was stopped by the community support officer, he was telling an underage lad to put out a cigarette and he put it on the floor.”
When asked why he had not paid the fine, he said: “I just haven’t got the money. I’m on Jobseeker’s Allow-ance.” Magistrates des-cribed the court appearance as “unfortunate”.
l Last May a Welsh council defended slapping a woman with a £75 penalty for allegedly dropping a cigarette butt.
Neath Port Talbot Council wrote to Jeannine Wycherley, claiming she threw the litter from her car.
Mrs Wycherley received a letter after allegedly dropping the butt in a supermarket car park.
“The world has gone crackers,” she said.
“Where are these heroes when it comes to a Friday night and the place is littered with chip paper, vomit and drink bottles?”
And in 2004, Gary Colbert was fined £60 and ordered to pay £75 costs after admitting littering after dropping a match in Liverpool.
He branded the punishment “ridiculous” and a “joke”.
A city council spokesman said at the time: “Litter is litter, and that includes matches.”
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