A woman who stood up to a group hurling litter out of a car says she is grateful she didn't get stabbed.

Smitha Campbell didn't back down when she was surrounded by three men outside Bean Town Coffee in Rochester.

The mother-of-two was on her way to a meeting at the coffee shop in Maidstone Road when she saw a bottle thrown out of a car window.

A two-litre drink bottle and multiple tubs of sauce were thrown from a black car opposite the café.

A public litter bin was just 20ft away.

The 40-year-old said: "It was a deliberate and flagrant act of not caring about the surroundings. I was shocked and taken aback.

"At this point, I just kept walking but then it happened again; this time a tub of sauce you would get from a takeaway.

"They just kept throwing things out with no fear or care. I gestured to them from the other side of the road, and they just looked at me and rolled the window up.

"I took my phone out and took a picture. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the picture, but then it escalated."

One man in the car, who noticed the project manager had taken the snap, got out and confronted her face-to-face, demanding she gave him her phone.

She said: "He said it is illegal and I can't take a photo, but I knew I could as it was in a public place.

"He was shouting at me to delete the photo, but I just wanted them to pick up the litter.

"Two others came out and they all towered over me and then it started to get heated."

A worker inside Bean Town Coffee saw what was happening and stood in support with Smitha.

The Rochester mum continued: "I started to get really scared so I just deleted the pictures, but only when they took the litter away.

"They threatened to take my phone away and they started swearing and one of them went round behind me so I couldn't move; they surrounded me.

"I got really scared. My legs were shaking and my hands were shaking.

"They had now not only just littered, they had intimidated and threatened me.

"One of them walked up to the car and picked up a tiny piece of litter and said 'there we picked it up', but I took them round the other side of the car and pointed out the rest of it.

"I couldn't move, they surrounded me..."

Smitha's persistence and dedication to preserving the environment forced the men to pick up their rubbish before they drove off.

Even though Smitha stands by her actions, she is urging others to be careful in following in her footsteps.

She said: "Although I'm so grateful that everyone has said that what I did was the right thing to do, I do understand they could have easily had a knife.

"Thank god I didn't get stabbed.

"At the time it didn't even cross my mind they could have a knife, I am very lucky.

"I wouldn't want my kids to be allowed to get away with anything they want and be bullies and throw their rubbish on the floor."

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