Littering drivers targeted by ‘dirty’ campaign

Posters featuring a man spitting out of his car window and a woman picking her nose at the wheel will confront motorists across the UK, as a campaign gets underway to target littering from vehicles.

Forty-foot lorries carrying posters of this gruesome twosome will be on main roads throughout November in an effort by charity Keep Britain Tidy and ad company Artic Media, to clampdown on tossing trash out of cars.

"According to a recent poll, litterbugging motorists are rated more repulsive than spitters and nose pickers; more malevolent than middle-lane drivers and a bigger irritant than those who do their make-up while motoring" said Alan Woods, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy. "We want them to know that everyone hates their filthy habits - and that their dirty deeds are despised by decent drivers."

An estimated 1.3 million bits of litter are dumped on Britain's busiest roads each weekend, and Keep Britain Tidy's last national survey revealed that routes leading into our towns and cities were rife with rubbish.

A study of motorway service stations also showed that while 85% of slips leading in were rated as reasonable, 78% of those heading out were downright dirty.

This tide of roadside trash has left the hardworking Highways Agency, whose job it is to main roads clean, with a massive headache. It also creates the impression that Brits do not care about their environment - importantly, the charity warn that broken bottles, still burning fag ends and windblown plastic could cause crashes.

Chucking rubbish from your car is an offence, punishable by an on-the-spot penalty of £50 or a trip to the Magistrates Court where the maximum fine is up to £2,500.

Last summer a Keep Britain Tidy campaign ‘Don't be a Tosser’ put the brakes on roadside littering by around 40% claim the charity.

(SP/MB)