Smoker fined £75 for dropping cigarette butt TWO YEARS ago outside Matalan

A SMOKER has been slapped with a fine two years after she dropped a cigarette butt outside a Matalan.

Dominique Jaffier was caught committing the offence near a branch of the discount store in Huddersfield.

A council enforcement officer spotted Ms Jaffier dropping the butt in August 2017.

But the 24-year-old only recently found out she was convicted in March last year as the case had taken place in her absence.

Jaffier has now pleaded guilty to throwing down litter in a place to which the Environmental Protection Act applies.

Susan Wilkinson, prosecuting on behalf of Kirklees Council, said that the officer witnessed her dropping the cigarette on the floor outside Matalan.

At the time, the officer explained that she had committed an offence and a £75 fixed penalty was handed to her.

Jaffier, of Cowlersley, admitted that she'd made a 'stupid mistake' but insisted that she had called up to pay the fine within 14 days.

She said: "I got the answering machine and left a message asking for somebody to get back to me.

"Nobody got back to me and it just slipped my mind."

Magistrates ordered her to pay the original £75 fine as well as £50 in prosecution costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

A recent study revealed that smoking cost the UK economy £12billion a year through illness and fag breaks.

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