Blighted Britain

by AUTONATIONAL RESCUE

Britain��s towns and cities are literally blighted by dropped chocolate wrappers, drink cans, fast food packaging and fag ends.

Busy streets are bad enough covered in chewing gum and crisp packets, but now larger and more hazardous objects are often just dumped by the roadside.

Sofas, TVs, baths, fridges and �C easily worst of all - even cars are just abandoned when they cease to be of use by the side of many of our main roads and in country lay-bys.

Yet, says car breakdown service Autonational Rescue, 70% of drivers think that throwing litter out of a car or van��s windows is ��the most annoying habit on the road��.

��So just why we continue to do it?�� asks Autonational��s Marketing Manager Ronan Hart.

��Dropped litter can have a huge and extremely negative effect on a neighbourhood - both in terms of very real damage to the environment and hurting or even killing wildlife and domestic pets.��

Then there are the clean-up costs to consider. Clearing litter from our streets alone costs an estimated ?332 million a year, which increases everyone��s tax burden.

Since UK councils started employing enforcement officers, many thousands of people have been caught and fined fixed sums (usually ?50) for dropping litter or not cleaning up after their pets.

��But by their very nature, litterbugs in cars are harder to catch unless a note is made of their registration plates and evidence captured,�� added Ronan.

��All we can do is to urge motorists and their passengers to simply take their litter home with them and dispose of it safely and cleanly��.

For more driving tips, please visit Autonational Rescue

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