Elderly man who accidentally dropped sweet out of his pocket hit with £80 fine by Milton Keynes litter wardens, claim protesters

An elderly man who accidentally dropped a sweet out of his pocket and on to the floor while fumbling for a tissue was hit with an £80 fine in Milton Keynes, protesters have claimed.

The wardens, officially called Environment Enforcement Officers were launched by MK Council in January and their job is to patrol the streets looking for people who drop litter.

They have the power to issue warnings and on-the-spot fines of up to £125 to any offenders caught red-handed.

The council says the move was brought in to ensure MK is kept spick and span and also save some of the £3.5m a year it costs to clean the borough.

This week, on the popular Milton Keynes Moan Facebook page, a woman complained that she was followed past the shops to her workplace by a litter warden in CMK after accidentally dropping a fragment of cigarette rolling paper on the floor.

"I didn't think they could hunt you down,” she said.

Another woman described how she witnessed an elderly man become distressed after he was fined in Bletchley town centre.

"He must have been about 75 or 80,” she wrote. “He dropped a sweet out of his pocket when trying to get his tissue out and they fined him £80,

"He picked the sweet up straight after but sadly the women followed him and demanded that he was ‘littering’... Such a shame as he got into a bit of a state over it.”

Another protestor said she was threatened with a whopping penalty of £2,500 after her cigarette butt fell off a litter bin because it was over full.

She picked it back up and put back on the bin but the warden said she’d already littered.

"I tried to appeal as I had photos of the over-filled bin ... I got an email back stating the officer was in her right to fine me and now my fine had gone up to £125 due to not paying it within two weeks.”

The email warned that if the woman did not pay, she would be taken to court and fined up to £2,500.

Another smoker said she was targeted dropping a cigarette end on the road outside MK hospital and followed to her workplace. When she refused to give her details, the warden called police.

"They turned up blues and twos in less than four minutes.… four minutes because of a cigarette butt.”

However, some people were unsympathetic to the protestors’ plight.

"I don't drop litter so I will be ok.. Easy solution that,” said one.

Another told smokers: “If there is no bin, take it with you. Some smokers carry a small plastic pot as a pocket ashtray for this purpose. There is NEVER an excuse to drop litter on the floor. Ever.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Trendall, Cabinet member for Customer Services, said: “Littering is anti-social, dangerous and harmful to our local wildlife and environment. It is also a huge cost to the council. This money could be spent on other essential services if offenders took the simple step of not throwing their rubbish on the floor.

“We want to keep MK clean, green and safe, and this clamp down will help us achieve that.”