A pair of litter louts have become the first people to be fined for throwing their rubbish on to the street.

Castle Point Council issued their first £75 fixed fines to two residents as part of its campaign to keep the borough tidy.

It is the council's policy not to name offenders unless the case goes to court.

One of the offenders, a woman, was spotted by a street cleaner throwing a parking ticket on to the floor at the Rectory Road car park, Hadleigh.

The other penalty notice was given to a driver who threw an empty medicine packet on to the road outside the council offices in Kiln Road, Thundersley.

Norman Bambridge, councillor responsible for street cleaning, said: "We do our best to keep Castle Point looking clean and tidy, but we need residents to do the same.

"There is no acceptable excuse for littering.

"We would rather not have to issue fines, but people need to know that if they ignore the rules we are willing to take action."

David Marchant, chief executive of Castle Point Council, added: "The council is fed up with trying to deal with escalating costs of litter collection.

"We've made a point regularly about effects of littering because it costs us and the taxpayer an awful lot of money to pick this up."

The council can also issue fines to companies for flyposting, and if they refuse to pay up they can be taken to court where they could face fines of up to £2,500.