Get the biggest stories sent straight to your inbox Sign up for regular updates and breaking news from WalesOnline Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

More than £1,000 worth of on-the-spot fines have been issued within a day in a zero-tolerance city centre crackdown on litter.

As part of a new campaign launched by Cardiff council, litter enforcement officers took to the streets to tackle litter head-on by fining anyone caught dropping rubbish.

They issued 14 on-the-spot fixed penalty fines worth £75 each.

The “grime scene crackdown” is part of a bid to stop littering, dog-fouling and fly-tipping in Cardiff and drive out the usual causes of rubbish in the city centre.

Part of the initiative involved using social media to tweet out pictures of offenders.

A £75 fine was issued to Pedro Freitas on Caroline Street for dropping a cigarette butt. The council then tweeted a photo of Mr Freitas after he received his fine.

Mr Freitas, 21, said: “I think it is a little bit unfair; everyone drops cigarettes on the floor.

“I am not ashamed – I did something bad but they can tweet my photo.”

Mr Freitas said he hoped the new council initiative would be kept up and enforced all over the city.

He said: “It should be everyone punished.

“Let’s see if it is only today or will they do it more.

“They should come to the city centre on a weekend; sometimes you can’t even see the floor for litter.”

Mr Freitas said from now on he would dispose of his cigarette butts in the portable ashtray the enforcement team gave him.

Council cabinet member for the environment Ashley Govier was in the city centre to give the campaign his support.

He said: “We spend £7m of council taxpayers’ money keeping our streets clean and we feel the frustration every bit as much as the majority of our residents who dispose of their litter in a responsible way.

“We have increased our enforcement teams and a system of penalties is in place ranging from a £75 fixed penalty notice for dropping gum to £50,000 or a prison sentence for fly-tipping.

“The message is simple; if you don’t want the fine, don’t do the crime.”

The enforcement team met members of the public along with their mascot dressed as a cigarette stub called Ashleigh.

The team gave out free portable ashtrays, dog fouling bags and chewing gum wrappers to members of the public.