SIX people have been fined for dropping litter as part of a crackdown targeting the A48 trunk road between Pont Abraham and Carmarthen.
The council is responsible for cleaning up the busy dual carriageway and the only way to do it is by setting up mobile lane closures.
Not only is it inconvenient to motorists but it is expensive too, costing the council more than £20,000 a year to do.
As a result, environmental enforcement officers targeted the area around Pont Abraham to catch litterers in the act.
They patrolled the service station car park and the Bristol House lay-by and in total six people were issued with fixed penalty notices for £75.
If they don’t pay up, they could be taken to court and fined even more as magistrates can impose a fine of up to £2,500 for dropping litter.
Executive Board Member for Environmental and Public Protection Cllr Jim Jones said: “People are dropping litter in the lay-by or in the service station car park and it blows on to the trunk road which the council then has to clean up.
“In the current financial climate where budgets are being reduced we cannot afford to be spending £20,000 a year on this. If people just put their rubbish in the bin or took it home with them, we wouldn’t have a problem.
“I hope that those people fined have learnt their lesson and that other people too will now think twice about what to do with their rubbish.
“This is one of the main routes through Carmarthenshire and if it is covered in litter it doesn’t give a very good impression.”
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