Littering fines have hit hundreds in the well-heeled financial district that plays host to the UK’s bankers and brokers.
A total of 191 people in the Square Mile have been hit with penalties amounting to £10,161 over the past year.
But if that doesn’t sound like much, litterbugs are being warned to be ready to dig deeper into their pockets if they get caught from April.
Government figures show between that 2016 and 2017 it cost local authorities £682million – £29 per household – to keep Britain’s streets clean.
It has handed local authorities powers to increase the size of fines to crack down on the scourge.
The City of London Corporation is among those set to take up that chance, increasing its fines from this April for people caught littering, making graffiti, fly-posting or distributing printed material without permission.
The fines for those caught being untidy in the Square Mile will go from £80 to £50 if paid within 10 working days, and late payments will incur a £150 charge.
It comes as the Corporation and Keep Britain Tidy appeal to litterbugs to think about how their behaviour makes them look to others.
Visitors to the City may have noticed the “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, litter left here reflects badly on us all” slogans installed around Moorgate, the Royal Exchange, and Cheapside this month.
The campaign is focused on “careful” litterers who may not see themselves as trashing the streets because they place their trash tidily on the ledges outside Tube station entrances in known “grot-spots” in the City.
The Corporation’s figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, also showed hundreds of other penalty charge notices were issued to untidy Londoners by the authority in 2017/18.
A total of 138 people were hit with fines for failure to comply with a waste receptacles notice, with penalties amounting to £9,700.
Another 44 were caught fly-tipping and together fined £7,800 for their behaviour.
Two people were also hit with fines of £50 each for either fly-posting, or posting graffiti or illegal ads in the City.
One person was fined £50 for being caught lighting up in a smoking-ban area.
