A man who refused to pay a fine after being seen throwing a cigarette butt out of a car window has been ordered to pay £180 by magistrates.

Paul Pack was spotted littering by Swale council enforcement officer Russell Hamilton and street warden Maxine Jacobs in High Street, Sheerness, on September 29 last year.

The 49-year-old then got out of his car and entered a newsagents.

After leaving the shop he was approached by the council officers who explained they had seen him throw the cigarette butt out of the car window and issued him with an £80 fixed-penalty notice.

Despite reminders, Pack, from Iris Drive, Sittingbourne, refused to pay.

He appeared at Sittingbourne Magistrates' Court on April 18 and was fined £80 and ordered to pay £100 in costs. Magistrates took into account Pack's early guilty plea.

Mr Hamilton said: "The simple message to anyone who thinks about dropping litter on the High Street or elsewhere in Swale is to put your litter in a bin, or take it home with you.

"There are plenty of rubbish bins and cigarette butt boxes on the High Street so there really is no excuse."