UK looks to use CCTV to catch littering smokers

CCTV cameras are to be used to help catch smokers who litter the streets with cigarette butts.

The littering problem has grown since the introduction of the smoking ban with areas outside some pubs particularly hard hit.

Now Bradford Council has warned that it will use footage from its CCTV system to identify and prosecute the culprits in the worst-hit areas.

The smokers then face fines of up to £75 under anti-littering legislation.

And publicans can also be forced to install litter bins and ash trays outside their premises if their customers persist in dropping cigarette ends and packets in spite of warnings by environmental health officials.

The move has been criticised by the district's licensees as an over-reaction. They say that the smoking ban has already affected trade and they fear that smokers will be even more put off if they think they are being filmed.

But Neil Atkinson, the Council's environmental health manager, said officers from the Council's environmental health department have been visiting pubs and offering advice about how to deal with litter since the smoking ban came in.