SMOKERS could face on the spot fines of £50 for discarding cigarette ends - that was the message from council officers last week when they hit the streets of Stroud as part of a litter crackdown.

Members of the Environmental Contracts Department at Stroud District Council went onto the Streets of Stroud last week to hand out 200 personal ashtrays and raise awareness about the penalties faced for dropping cigarette ends on the ground.

Under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 , which came into force in June, fixed penalty fines of £50 can now be issued to anyone seen to be dropping litter, including cigarette ends.

Technical Contracts Officer, Lisa Samak, who went out dressed as Bluey - a giant personal ashtray, as part of the scheme said many people don't consider dropping cigarette butts as littering.

She added: "We really wanted to make people aware that dropping cigarette litter is a prosecutionable offence and people do face an on the spot fines of £50 for doing it.

"There is a problem with people dropping cigarette butts in the town and it's getting worse as more and more places become non-smoking because people drop them on the floor before going into a shop or back to work.

"I haven't got a clue how many cigarettes are dropped in Stroud but they account for 40 per cent of all discarded litter in the country."

As part of a three-phase action plan to combat the problem the council already fitted all the bins in the town centre with ashtrays and carried out an audit to find out the main problem areas in the town.

The audit highlighted that those working in the town were the worst offenders for dropping cigarette butts so the next stage in the campaign is to encourage the town's traders to support the scheme.