An British elderly widow has been threatened with a £2,500 fine by council officials – for dropping cigarette ash on the pavement.
Sheila Martin, 70, was smoking at a bus stop when a warden pounced and handed her the £75 fixed penalty for littering. The cash-strapped grandmother refused to pay and has now been warned it could rise to £2,500.
Mrs Martin, from Oldbury, West Midlands, was hit with the original fine by the Sandwell council warden after visiting her daughter on May 25. She said: ‘I still can’t believe what happened. I was sat at a bus stop quietly enjoying a cigarette and from nowhere a warden appeared and accused me of littering.
‘I was only smoking a cigarette. It is one of the few things I can afford to buy myself.’