‘What is reasonable, consistent or proportionate about an £80 FPN for dropping one cigarette butt in the gutter?’ [Meineresterampe-Pixabay]

• WALKING along the pavement beside St Pancras station one Thursday night in July, I was stopped and told by an officer wearing an official-looking yellow vest I was to be penalised with an FPN, fixed penalty notice, for discarding a cigarette butt.

I did not see any wall-mounted ashtrays near the entrance to the tube. Also I did not see any street rubbish bin. In any case, I wouldn’t throw a cigarette butt into an ordinary bin because of the risk of setting it on fire. So I stubbed it out under my foot in the gutter of the road.

I told the officer that I was not well off, and was in shock that such a level of fine could be imposed, without any warning.

Indeed there was no notice, so far as I could see, anywhere around the entrance to the tube. He implied that such measures, including fines of £80, were well known.

Do the enforcement officers specifically target an international terminus, such as St Pancras, but not the area around, say, Camden tube or the housing estates of the borough? It is as if the application of severe restrictions seems designed to catch out unsuspecting foreigners.

I have just looked at the Camden Council website to find out information about such policies. Under “What We Will Do” in the “Local Environmental Quality Enforcement Policy”, the document states: “We will raise awareness among… visitors of their responsibilities and obligations and what constitutes an offence in terms of… litter control”. Quite the opposite.

The officer had made no attempt to inform me or to raise awareness. Instead he waited for me to make a wrong move and then he pounced.

It also states: “We will undertake enforcement action in a reasonable, consistent and proportionate manner.” What is reasonable, consistent or proportionate about an £80 FPN for dropping one cigarette butt in the gutter?

CHRIS SOMES-CHARLTON, W11