Bin your butt ends
Tuesday 7 October 2008
Three smokers were fined last week for littering the street with cigarette butts outside pubs and clubs in Crouch End.
Two booksellers were also reported for unlicensed street trading and had their goods confiscated, during the operation by council enforcement officers and Crouch End and Stroud Green Safer Neighbourhoods Teams.
The joint operation was set to tackle cigarette butt litter and illegal street trading following complaints from residents.
Pubs and clubs had previously been reminded to provide cigarette litter bins outside their premises for customers to dispose of their cigarette litter.
The reminder outlined concern at the increase in cigarette butts resulting from customers standing outside premises smoking. It warned that anyone seen discarding litter onto the streets will be liable for a fixed penalty.
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 dropping litter is punishable by a fixed penalty of £75 or prosecution, with a maximum fine of £2,500.
Illegal street trading was also addressed in Crouch End after residents complained and warnings were ignored by two traders, resulting in the confiscation of the books they were selling.
Under section 38 of the London Local Authorities Act 1990 it is an offence to sell any goods from the Public Highway without a licence issued by the Local Authority. This offence is punishable by a fixed penalty of £150 or prosecution, with a maximum fine of £2,500.
Cllr Nilgun Canver, cabinet member for enforcement and safer communities, said:
"We know that when an area looks messy and neglected it attracts crime, as well as looking like an eyesore. It is not too much to ask that smokers use the extra bins provided by the pubs and clubs when they smoke outside the premises. It's not fair for residents to have to wade through cigarette buts in parts of their street."
Sgt Bob Stevenson from Stroud Green Safer Neighbourhoods team said:
|Back to top"This operation was specifically planned for a Friday evening, which is a busy time in and around licensed premises and we were widely praised by the customers inside and outside the pubs we visited."
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