A WIRRAL man who dropped a cigarette butt onto a pavement has been fined more than £500.

The matter came before Birkenhead Magistrates Court this week but the defendant, a Wallasey resident, failed to attend.

In his absence, he was fined £125 and ordered to pay £385 in costs and a victim surcharge of £15 – a total of £525.

A statement from Wirral Council explains the man was outside Primark store in Liscard when he was spotted by a Community Patrol Officer dropping a cigarette butt onto the pavement.

The officer issued him with a fixed penalty notice for the offence of depositing and leaving litter, a breach of Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The notice was for £75, reduced to £50 if the offender paid within ten days.

However, despite several reminders, he did not pay the fixed penalty and failed to contact the council at any time over the issue.

As a result, the council’s enforcement team pursued the prosecution.

Councillor Harry Smith, Wirral Council cabinet member for Streetscene and transport services, said: “Discarded items of litter - particularly things like cigarette ends - blight our communities and the message has to go out to people who are caught deliberately dropping litter that they will be fined.

“In this particular case, the flagrant disregard shown by the offender to the consequences of his actions has ultimately landed him with a much more severe penalty.”