Smokers caught dropping their cigarette butts in the Square Milecould be issued with an £80 Fixed Penalty Notice, and may face ahefty fine and prosecution, as part of an anti-litter campaignlaunched this week by the City of London Corporation.

The 'No ifs. No Butts." campaign promises to adopt a toughapproach to people who drop their smoking-related litter, includingcigarette butts, packets, lighters, matches and cellophanewrappers, on the City"s streets.

Every day, around 7,000 cigarette butts are collected by theCity of London"s street cleansing service, which does 67 manualsweeps of the Square Mile in a 24-hour period.

An £80 Fixed Penalty Notice can be handed out by a team of 10'Street Environment Officers", who have been working with Citybusinesses to target smoking-related litter. It is a furtheroffence to fail to provide accurate contact details, for which acourt summons will be issued - and if convicted, a fine of up to£1,000 will be imposed.

So far, more than 30,000 people have received an electronicversion of a 'red card", warning them that they could be fined upto £2,500 if they were to be prosecuted. Staff from the City ofLondon"s Environmental Services Department have also handed out'red cards" and portable ashtrays in 'hot spot" areas in the SquareMile.

The campaign is backed up with a concerted effort by the City ofLondon Corporation to encourage businesses to extend and upgradetheir cigarette litter bin facilities on their premises, andcoincides with the distribution, on request, of City of London'Minibin" pocket ashtrays.

Philip Everett, Director of Environmental Services, City ofLondon Corporation said:"As the campaign"s name suggests, we"re taking a tough line onpeople who litter our streets. The City of London takes great pridein working with businesses for a cleaner and more attractive SquareMile, and we expect this campaign to have an impact on people"sbehaviour, if not their purses and wallets when they are caughtdropping litter. It can be time-consuming to clean it up, and weare keen to work with City firms to prevent it."Phil Barton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said:"We are pleased that the City of London is taking this issueseriously, because cigarette litter looks terrible and is turningour streets into a giant ashtray. Clearly, many smokers have yet tobe convinced that their cigarette stubs are litter, so they need toact responsibly, get a personal ashtray or use the bins provided.

There can be no excuse for throwing cigarette butts on the ground.

It's lazy and disgusting."More details about the campaign by the City of LondonCorporation, which is among the top six highest-performing localauthorities in England and Wales for street cleansing, can be foundatwww.cityoflondon.gov.uk/cleancity