£800 fine dished out to Croydon man for littering cigarette butt in Bromley

A man from Croydon has been fined more than £800 for throwing a cigarette butt on the floor in Market Square, Bromley.

Carl Smith, 31, was issued with a £100 fixed penalty notice earlier this year for dropping the butt on the street, Bromley Council said.

He was then prosecuted after he failed to pay the notice for littering, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act.

Smith pleaded guilty by the single justice procedure on December 3. He was subsequently ordered to pay £833 by Bromley Magistrates’ Court. The amount included a fine of £293, a surcharge of £117 and costs of £423 to be paid by January 14.

Bromley Council said it was the 12th prosecution it had carried out for littering since the beginning of September.

It added that they serve as a “warning to others to not discard unwanted items in the street, but to place them in a litter bin or take rubbish home”.

A Bromley Council spokesperson said: “On behalf of residents, the council has street-cleaning teams working seven days a week across the borough, keeping our streets neat.

“Littering undoes this work and is illegal, with our enforcement team issuing a fixed penalty notice to anyone seen littering.

“If payment is not received then prosecution will follow, with fines and costs being considerably higher than the fixed penalty notice.”

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