Smoker vows to fight over cigarette ash fine

A pensioner from the Black Country has insisted she would rather go to jail than pay a fine after saying she was penalised for dropping cigarette ash on the floor.

Sheila Martin from Oldbury has refused to pay a £75 fixed penalty notice served by Sandwell Council for littering as she smoked while waiting for a bus.

The 70-year-old has been warned that she could be brought before the courts and face a fine of up to £2,500 and pay costs of the hearing against her.

But the widow of Hill Top Road says she does not believe she should have been ticketed and does not plan on paying any bill.

She was approached by a warden as she waited for the 446 bus in Bristnall Hall Road on May 26 this year and handed the penalty notice. The mother-of-two said: "I think it is disgusting. All I did was smoke a cigarette while waiting for the bus and some cigarette ash went on the floor. I didn't drop any litter.

"It is one of the few things I can afford to buy. It is just wrong and I have no intention of paying a fine.I would rather go to prison."

It is the latest occasion the council has come in for criticism for its tough approach to littering. A mother was fined for feeding the ducks with her young son in a Smethwick park last year.

But Vanessa Kelly's £75 fine was eventually dropped along with similar penalties imposed on six other people in Smethwick Hall Park.

Councillor Derek Rowley, Sandwell's neighbourhoods chief, said he was unable to comment on individual cases.

But he added: "In general terms, however, our wardens do not issue fixed penalty notices for dropping cigarette ash. They do for dropping cigarette butts which are specifically classed as litter under the Environmental Protection Act.

"The council takes a dim view of littering because the people of Sandwell tell us they want clean streets."

The letter sent to Mrs Martin from the council states: "The fixed penalty notice scheme offers you the opportunity to discharge your liability to prosecution by making a fixed penalty payment.

"As full payment has not been received this matter has been referred to the prosecution team for consideration."