Hartlepool teenager slapped with £408 court bill after he is prosecuted at Teesside Magistrates' Court for dropping cigarette end

By Gavin Ledwith
Published 13th Mar 2024, 17:18 BST
Updated 14th Mar 2024, 08:37 BST
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A teenager caught discarding a cigarette end is hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

Bradley Michael Rowledge, 19, of Derwent Street, Hartlepool, was prosecuted by Hartlepool Borough Council under environmental legislation after he “threw down, dropped or otherwise deposited litter” outside the town’s Middleton Grange Shopping Centre on April 6 of last year.

Rowledge was convicted in his absence at Teesside Magistrates’ Court, in Middlesbrough, after he failed to appear at the recent hearing.

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He was ordered to pay a £220 fine, £88 victim surcharge and £100 prosecution costs after he was found guilty of breaching the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by failing to pick up the cigarette end and discard it correctly.

A teenager is hundreds of pounds out of pocket after he was convicted of discarding a cigarette end outside Middleton Grange Shopping Centre.A teenager is hundreds of pounds out of pocket after he was convicted of discarding a cigarette end outside Middleton Grange Shopping Centre.
A teenager is hundreds of pounds out of pocket after he was convicted of discarding a cigarette end outside Middleton Grange Shopping Centre.

The £408 total must be paid by March 26.

Just weeks ago, following another prosecution by the council, a 21-year-old town woman received a £428 court bill after she was convicted in her absence of failing to remove dog dirt from a back alley.