Man Faces £600 Bill for Dropping Cigarette Butt

An Oxford man made the very costly mistake of discarding his cigarette butt right under the nose of a council enforcement officer.

Jamie White, 31, of Elsfield, dropped the cigarette butt on the ground in The Square, Abingdon on 27th November 2018. There are several litter bins in the area, but for whatever reason he decided to drop it into the gutter beside his car.

Littering is an offence contrary to section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It is a summary offence, which has a maximum penalty of a level 4 fine (currently £2,500). However, the offence is normally only prosecuted in those cases where the offender fails to pay a fixed penalty notice.

White was issued an £80 fixed penalty notice, which would have been reduced to £50 if paid within 10 days.

Generally speaking, unless a person genuinely believes they have good reason to contest such a penalty, it is better to pay up at the earliest opportunity.

White failed to pay the fixed penalty, which led to Vale of White Horse District Council issuing several reminder letters. White also failed to respond to those reminder letters, which resulted in the council bringing a prosecution against him.

White was summoned to appear at Oxford Magistrates' Court on 25th February 2019, but failed to attend. A trial went ahead in his absence and unsurprisingly the charge against him was proved.

Magistrates imposed a fine of £160, prosecution costs of £417 and a victim surcharge of £30.

Councillor Elaine Ware, cabinet member for housing and environment at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: "Littering is unpleasant and also illegal and where possible the council will prosecute those who are caught."

A closing observation: Suppose White had been prosecuted by the CPS instead of the council, then it would have been a standard £85 costs application. Councils typically ask for costs of several hundred pounds, even in the most straightforward of cases. In the absence of any other information the court will usually award full prosecution costs, because the defendant is assumed to have a relevant weekly income commensurate with full-time employment.