Smoker faces £2,500 fine... for dropping cigarette ash on pavement

An elderly widow has been threatened with a £2,500 fine by council officials – for dropping cigarette ash on the pavement.

Sheila Martin, 70, was smoking at a bus stop when a warden pounced and handed her the £75 fixed penalty for littering.

The cash-strapped grandmother refused to pay and has now been warned it could rise to £2,500.

Disbelief: Sheila Martin, 70, said she doesn't understand why the council is being so heavy-handed

Mrs Martin, from Oldbury, West Midlands, was hit with the original fine by the Sandwell council warden after visiting her daughter on May 25.

She said: ‘I still can’t believe what happened. I was sat at a bus stop quietly enjoying a cigarette and from nowhere a warden appeared and accused me of littering.

‘I was only smoking a cigarette. It is one of the few things I can afford to buy myself.’

Mrs Martin claims she was so shocked that she later suffered an asthma attack at home and was knocked unconscious for three hours after falling over.

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Final warning: The letter informing Mrs Martin her fine will be increased to £2,500 if she doesn't pay the initial £75

She said: ‘I’ve always been a law-abiding person, so this was all a big shock to me and I just keeled over.

‘I haven’t been the same since and have only got by thanks to the help of my friends and neighbours.

‘It feels like I am being victimised.’

Mrs Martin had initially refused to pay the £75 fixed penalty charge. But she has seven days to cough up or she will be summoned to court and could face a fine of up to £2,500.

‘It all seems so heavy handed,’ she said.

‘I can’t work out why the council would be so vindictive over such a petty matter. I’m so upset and angry.’

Sandwell Council dished out 2,200 penalty fines last year, compared to just 336 in neighbouring Dudley.

Councillor Derek Rowley, Sandwell’s cabinet member for safer neighbourhoods, refused to comment on Mrs Martin’s case.

He said: ‘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.’