Cigarette fines rise to nearly £500 after Bristol pair miss court date

Two Bristol residents who dropped cigarettes in the street and failed to pay a fixed term penalty now have to pay nearly £500 each.

A street scene enforcement officer separately issued two residents (in Broad Walk and in the Centre) with a £75 fine, which allows fourteen days to pay.

Neither paid and the cases were taken to the Bristol Magistrates' Court last week. Neither turned up at court but each was fined £350, plus £120 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

A taxi driver, in an earlier case this month, refused to give his details to the street scene enforcement officer. He has been fined £550 plus costs because of his offence and for withholding his name and address.

Councillor Gary Hopkins, cabinet member for environment and community safety, said: "Since the smoking ban there has been a publicity drive in the city to emphasise people should not litter the highways with their cigarette ends. We are determined that people know they must dispose of cigarettes properly.

"Residents have told us what a high priority clean streets are and although we are increasing our street cleaning we must also take every step to prevent the problem happening in the first place."

"Our staff advise people and give them stubbies to collect their cigarette ends but we must also back this up with enforcement action to ensure that our pavements are not littered with cigarette ends."