Smokers are beginning to take heed of Wandsworth Council's campaign to persuade them to stop dropping cigarette butts in public, according to new figures.

Only two people were collared when the council’s waste enforcement team staged its latest anti-litter roadshow at Tooting Bec station last week.

This compares with 12 people who were prosecuted in May when the roadshow was at Clapham Junction and Tooting Bec station.

This month's dramatic fall is put into context when compared with May's total and a previous month this year when 22 people were accosted.

Between April and the end of June this year 217 of these on-the-spot-fines were handed out to litterbugs.

The waste enforcement team has been regularly visiting stations in the borough and bringing with them a large perspex dustbin that contains all the waste picked up from surrounding streets that day.

Smoking related debris now accounts for 90 per cent of the litter on Wandsworth’s streets and picking this up and keeping the borough’s streets clean and tidy is currently costing local council taxpayers just under £4m a year.

People caught dropping litter in the street face an £80 fixed penalty notice.

Those who refuse to pay will be summonsed to appear in front of magistrates who could impose fines of up to £2,500.