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People across London who spit in public face being hit with a £80 on-the-spot fine under a new crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Town halls are expected at a meeting on Thursday to agree to the level of the penalty across the capital.

Local authority wardens, in parks or on litter patrols, would be able to issue the fines under by-laws.

It would be up to town halls how to impose the penalties and they could apply to footballers spitting during games in public parks.

The proposed penalty could be cut to £50 if it is paid within 14 days under the plans to be discussed by London Councils’ transport and environment committee.

“Earlier this year, London Councils conducted a public consultation into penalties for anti-social spitting and the responses we received were overwhelming in favour of imposing a fixed penalty in line with other nuisance behaviour like littering,” said a London Councils’ spokesman.

“Anti-social spitting impacts people’s quality of life. This is exactly the sort of measure boroughs can and should implement to make their local areas more pleasant places to live and work.”

People who spit in public are unlikely to be fined if they have a “reasonable excuse” or if they do so into a handkerchief, tissue, bin, spittoon or other receptacle.

These are the exceptions included in a by-law agreed a year ago in Enfield which was approved by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

It meant that people could be taken to court and fined up to £500 for spitting in the north London borough which now wants to bring in the option of fixed penalty to deal with such anti-social conduct.

Waltham Forest and Newham have also targeted anti-social spitting with fixed penalty notices using the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and by categorising spit as “litter”.

But town halls across London are now set to sign up for the first time to a standard penalty for spitting across the capital.