A MAN has been fined £60 for dropping a used match in the street in Liverpool where the city council is currently handing out portable ashtrays for smokers to stop them dropping butts.

Gary Colbert was among 25 people prosecuted by the council for dropping litter. Most of them had thrown cigarette butts away.

Mr Colbert told a local newspaper that his fine - imposed by the city's magistrates - was "ridiculous".

But a spokesman for the city council has said that Liverpool has a litter problem. He added: "Litter is litter, and that includes matches."

Mr Colbert, and the other 24 people before the court on Thursday, were each fined £60 and ordered to pay £75 costs.

Research from Encams, organisers of the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, estimates that cigarette-related rubbish accounts for about 40% of all litter.

Councillor Marilyn Fielding, executive member for neighbourhood services, said: "The message is clear. If you drop litter of any sort then you stand a very good chance of ending up in court.

"For far too long, litter louts have escaped scot-free, but those days are over."