Man fined by courts after second litter offence

A KIDWELLY man has been fined by the courts after being caught littering for the second time.

Andrew Lee Thornton, aged 30, of Heol Dyddgen, Crwbin, Kidwelly, was convicted in absence to an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 at Ammanford Magistrates Court.

The prosecution was brought by Carmarthenshire County Council.

The court heard that the council’s environmental enforcement officers were on duty on November 5 last year in Lammas Street, Carmarthen, when they saw a group of three men walking ahead of them. One was eating a packet of crisps and they saw him scrunch up the packet of crisps and stuff it behind a drainpipe outside a takeaway.

The pair approached the man and explained what they had seen. One of the officers recognised him as she had previously issued him with a fixed penalty notice for littering earlier in the year. She therefore explained that as this was his second offence for littering he would now be summonsed for prosecution.

Thornton was fined £260 by magistrates and ordered to pay £122.31 prosecution costs as well as a £15 victim surcharge.

The council’s executive board member for the environment Councillor Philip Hughes said: “Dropping litter is against the law, whether it is discarding rubbish from a vehicle, throwing cigarette ends or spitting out chewing gum. This will not be tolerated and the culprits will be punished.

“We are determined to make Carmarthenshire a cleaner, greener and safer place to live for everyone.”