Second man fined by magistrates for dropping cigarette end

A SECOND man has been fined by Carmarthen magistrates after he was caught dropping a cigarette end in Llanelli town centre.

Andrew Pardoe, aged 38, of Heaseland Place, Swansea, pleaded guilty by post to an offence contrary to Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The court heard that on June 7 last year he was seen by council environmental enforcement officers dropping his cigarette on to the ground outside Crown Buildings in Town Hall Square.

He was issued with a fixed penalty notice for the offence, but he never paid it and has been prosecuted in court as a result.

He was fined £100 by magistrates and ordered to pay £222.32 prosecution costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Figures show that around 83% of all litter found on the county’s streets is smoking-related.

Executive Board Member for Environmental and Public Protection Cllr Jim Jones said: “Dropping litter is against the law and dropping a cigarette end is no different from throwing away any other sort of litter.

“They make an area look untidy and they are difficult and costly to clean up as they fall into grates and cracks in the pavement making them almost impossible to remove by normal cleaning methods.”