Three in court over dropped cigarettes

SMOKERS who drop used cigarette butts in the city centre have been warned to expect big fines after four litter louts were prosecuted in court.

Four people were fined at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court yesterday for discarding their cigarette butts on the floor in the city centre.

The Peterborough City Council prosecutions came on the same day The Evening Telegraph started the Bin It campaign to keep the city streets clean after highlighting how the £12.8 million new look city centre has been blighted by yobs spitting chewing gum on to the paving stones.

Of the four summoned to appear at court yesterday, only Alessandro Vacca attended.

Vacca (42) of Four Chimneys Crescent, Hampton Vale, pleaded guilty to throwing down a cigarette butt outside Yorkshire Bank near St John’s Square on April 27.

Vacca was fined £100, and ordered to pay £50 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. The three other litter bugs were all found guilty in their absence.

Marian Marko (51) of Cromwell Road, Peterborough was fined for dropping a cigarette in Long Causeway near Cathedral Square, while Aida Raio (22) of Gladstone Street, Peterborough, was also found guilty of dropping a cigarette in Long Causeway,

Tracey Beckett (43) of Padholme Road, Eastfield, was found guilty of dropping a cigarette butt outside Eastfield News in Eastfield Road,

The trio were fined £125, and ordered to pay £50 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

The fines were handed out by magistrates after all four were given a fixed penalty notice of £75 at the scene - but failed to pay within 21 days.

The sentence was welcomed by council cabinet member for environment capital Cllr Sam Dalton.

She said: “When the economy is suffering people should think of the additional cost to the council. If we didn’t have to clean up litter unnecessarily we would save money that could be spent elsewhere.

“It takes no time at all to put out a cigarette butt and put it in a bin. We have recently put new bins in the city centre so there is really no excuse.

“If people drop litter deliberately they should be prepared to take the consequences and be accountable for their actions. You wouldn’t drop litter at home so why do it in public?”

n Anne Canham, of Flore Close, Westwood, was also prosecuted yesterday for dropping an envelope in Flore Close, and fined £125, ordered to pay costs of £50 and a £15 victim surcharge after being found guilty in her absence of littering.

Donatas Mazonas (24) of Midland Road, West Town, Peterborough, was fined £125, ordered to pay £75 costs and a £15 victim surcharge after being found guilty of leaving three bags of household waste in grassland at Benland, Bretton.