Smoker fined over cig drop video he claimed was AI

A smoker fined after being caught on camera dropping cigarette butts in the street tried to claim images of the offence were AI-generated.

Dr Robert Jones, 64, was issued with a fixed penalty notice of £500 by City of York Council after he was filmed by a neighbour, who reported him for repeatedly littering on their road.

But he claimed the video of the November 2025 incident was made by AI and refused to pay, resulting in him being taken to court.

After York magistrates reviewed the evidence, Jones was fined £40 for littering, ordered to pay a £16 victim surcharge and the council was awarded full costs of £967.

The video showed a man with a motorbike smoking, before dropping and leaving the cigarette butt on the street.

Magistrates heard that Jones claimed he had not been at the address on Ashville Street, York, at that time as he had ridden his motorbike to York Hospital.

But he eventually accepted it was him and pleaded guilty at a hearing on 29 April, though City of York Council have only recently released the details.

Keep Britain Tidy say cigarette butts are the most littered item in the UK.

Michael Pavlovic, the council's executive member for community safety, said: "Butts do not biodegrade and leach toxic chemicals.

"Although many people may think that dropping a cigarette on the road is a minor issue, when wet, they leach those chemicals into the ground and the waste water system which costs the environment, and us all to clean up."

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