Cigarettes cost litterbugs almost £2,000

Dropping cigarette butts has cost a group of people almost £2,000.

Four people have been ordered by magistrates to pay £460 each for failing to pay fixed penalty notices for littering, totalling £1,840 between them.

The offences took place across Medway in July and August last year.

On Wednesday, 24 May, all four defendants failed to appear at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court and the cases were proved in their absence.

Each person was fined £150 by magistrates and ordered to pay costs of £250 and a victim surcharge of £60, totalling £460 per person.

• Paul Gatter, 30, of White Road, Chatham, was ordered to pay £460 after failing to pay a fixed penalty notice after he was seen dropping and leaving a cigarette butt at a bus station in Chatham high street on 29 July 2022.
• Donna Shorthouse, 31, of Luton Road, Chatham, was ordered to pay £460 after failing to pay a fixed penalty notice after she was seen dropping and leaving a cigarette butt at a bus station in Chatham on 2 August 2022.
• Stan Simmons, 23, of Hawthorne Avenue, Gillingham, was ordered to pay £460 after failing to pay a fixed penalty notice after he was seen dropping and leaving a cigarette butt at a bus station in Chatham on 2 August 2022.
• Chelsey Wicks, 32, of St Keverne Road, London, was ordered to pay £460 after failing to pay a fixed penalty notice after she was seen dropping and leaving a cigarette butt at Medway Services in Gillingham on 2 August 2022.

We all have a responsibility to help keep Medway clean and tidy

Cllr Tris Osborne, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder covering Enforcement, said: “We work hard to keep Medway clean and tidy throughout the year and we won’t let the minority of people spoil this. We all want to love where we live and have a responsibility to play our part in keeping Medway tidy. Issuing these fines sends a strong message that littering is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in Medway.”

We work in partnership with our litter enforcement agents, District Enforcement, to encourage residents and visitors to dispose of their waste responsibly to help keep Medway clean and tidy.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 allows for authorised officers to issue fixed penalty notices on any land the public has access to. Our contracted litter enforcement agents patrol across Medway including in the area’s high streets, greenspaces, supermarket car parks and other areas which have high levels of littering.

Report littering in Medway