Couple fined for dropping cigarette butts - before they had even finished smoking

A Grimsby couple claim they were fined for dropping cigarette butts - before they had even finished smoking.

Donna Jackson (28), of Willingham Street, Grimsby, claimed she was smoking a cigarette with her partner Mark Hewitt (28) in Top Town when a community warden fined them - because it was expected they would drop their cigarette ends when they had finished.

The couple say they were so frustrated that they were being fined when they had not dropped any litter, they threw the butts on the ground in defiance.

Miss Jackson said: "Me and my partner were standing outside Wilkinson's. We were smoking a cigarette when a warden came over and started reading me my rights. My partner and I looked at each other in bewilderment and then looked at the warden."

"He asked us for our details and when we asked why he told us we were being given a £50 fixed penalty notice each. My partner said 'Why? What have we done?' He then said it had looked like we were going to drop our cigarettes on the floor."

"Out of frustration and in protest we both then threw our cigarette ends on the floor. We thought if we are going to be fined, we might as well get our money's worth."

A community warden has also confirmed that in theory smokers could be fined for flicking their ash - though he had never heard of this happening.