Smokers will be offered free mobile ashtrays in a bid to cut down litter in Merton.

And the ashtrays could save you from landing a £150 for dropping a cigarette butt.

As part of a campaign, enforcement officers are touring shopping centres in the borough this month, with smokers warned to "watch your butt".

They are giving out free pouches to smokers which can be used until a bin is found.

Cigarette ends might be small but they make up large amount of the litter pollution on the streets.

Merton Council is cracking down on all types of littering and handed out a whopping 6,956 fines to litter bugs during 2018/19, compared with 5,934 the previous year.

Cabinet member for environment and street cleanliness, Councillor Mike Brunt, said: “One cigarette butt might be a small item, but the sheer volume of them left or thrown on streets or in open spaces creates a major littering issue.

“Cigarette filters also contain all the chemicals smokers do not want to breathe in, so those discarded in the street potentially threaten the health of children and wildlife.

“We are warning smokers that if they drop a butt in Merton it could be the most expensive cigarette they have ever smoked – it could cost them a fine of £150.”

“Our borough is not an ashtray.  This is why we are reminding smokers to bin their butts responsibly or, if suitable bins are not available, to use one of the free mobile ashtrays we are handing out.”

The pouches will be handed out in Colliers Wood, Morden, Raynes Park, Wimbledon, and Mitcham until Friday, April 26.