TWO women have been handed hefty fines by the courts for discarding of used cigarettes and leaving them on the street.

Aimee Sue Ingham and Sally Cookson, both from Warrington, committed the offences of throwing down, leaving or otherwise depositing litter in the Greater Manchester area.

They appeared before Tameside Magistrates’ Court on December 23 after the offences were proved.

Here, they were told they must pay more than £600 each for their misdemeanour.

Ingham, of Windermere Avenue in Orford, committed the offence on May 24 last year.

She dropped a cigarette and left it on Market Street in Manchester – a place to which section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 applies.

The 26-year-old was fined £440, ordered to pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £44 and told she must pay court costs of £125 – an amount totalling £609.

Cookson meanwhile, of Folly Farm Close in Bewsey, dropped a cigarette and left it on Warburton Lane in Trafford on April 29 last year.

She was also fined £440, ordered to pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £44 and told she must pay court costs of £120 – an amount totalling £604.