TWO young women who dropped cigarette butts in the town centre were each fined £80 at Swindon Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Yasmin Stratford and Michaela Gallagher, both 20, were prosecuted by Swindon Council after being caught throwing down the litter in Wharf Green during a lunch break.

The pair, who now have criminal records, were taken to court after failing to pay the £80 on-the-spot fine issued under powers recently adopted by the local authority.

Rosie Bone, prosecuting, said the pair were spotted by an officer at about 12.10pm on October 14 last year during a routine lunchtime patrol of the town centre.

“There are lots of litter bins in the vicinity and the cigarette butt were dropped approximately 15ft away from a litter bin,” said Ms Bone.

She said the officer took their names, addresses and dates of birth, and also provided them with advice on potential further action, including the issuing of a fixed penalty notices and the implications of not paying.

Ms Bone said the pair were each issued with fixed penalty notices on November 6 but failed to pay within the 14-day limit.

Notices for littering are £50 if paid within 10 days or £80 if paid within 14 days.

Ms Bone said the council received letters from the defendants in January in which they said they did not know dropping litter was illegal and pointed out there were no warning signs in the area. She said they did not deny the offence but also did not offer to pay the fine.

Stratford, of Hallam Moor, Liden, and Michaela Gallagher, of Millgrove Street, Redhouse, pleaded guilty to dropping litter in a place open to the air, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Lee Mott, defending, said there were bins in the area where the women were enjoying their lunch break but pointed out that a large amount of construction work was taking place. He said: “Large scale metal fences were up and pavements were being dug up. So having finished their cigarettes they looked towards the nearest bin and and saw it was behind the fence.

“They couldn’t get there with the work going on. Yasmin couldn’t see any other bin available in the near vicinity so at that point they stubbed the cigarettes out by throwing them on the floor and stamping on them.”

Mr Mott said that both the women were apologetic and co-operative when the officer approached and offered to take the butts to a bin, but were denied that opportunity.

In passing sentence, Ruth Fitzsimmons, chairman of the magistrates, said the pair were ‘silly’ to commit the offence.

They pair were each fined £80 and told to pay £50 costs plus a £15 victim surcharge.

Magistrates decided not to charge them the full costs of compiling the evidence, which came to £168.50.

Russell Sharland, case manager for regulatory services at Swindon Council, said the council always took people to court if they failed to pay fixed penalty notices.

He said: “It would undermine the whole system if we didn’t follow through if someone didn’t pay the fixed penalty notice.

“It would be totally unfair to those who do pay the fixed penalty notice if those who don’t are ignored.”

He added: “We are hoping to send a message that we do take this seriously and we won’t back down from taking these difficult decisions.

“Hopefully people will stop littering in the first place, because it costs Swindon council taxpayers a lot of money as staff have to clean it up.