Thrown cigarette burns baby

AN ANGRY Ipswich dad today spoke of his disgust after his son suffered several burns when a driver tossed a lit cigarette butt from his passing car into the two-year-old's pram.

Robert Thorpe had taken son Alfie out on Saturday evening for some fresh air in a bid to get him to go to sleep and was strolling along London Road at around 7.30pm when the butt was flicked out of a black Ford Escort.

The cigarette landed next to Alfie, who was asleep in his buggy, causing a number of burns on the shocked tot's back.

While Mr Thorpe, of Dombey Road, on the Triangle Estate, accepts the driver did not intend to hurt his son, he urged motorists to take more care when disposing of their cigarettes.

The 22-year-old, married to Lisa, said: “It was lucky I noticed the fag come out of the car. If I hadn't it could have been much worse than it was.

“Drivers need to take much more care of where they throw their cigarettes.

“I had been trying to get Alfie to go to sleep which was why I had taken him out. We'd walked to Sainsbury's and were on our way home when the car drove past.

“He had about nine burns on his back, which I managed to treat myself. He's alright now although he was very unsettled on Sunday.”

Mr Thorpe said he was unable to note the car's registration details because he was urgently tending to his son.

Ipswich Borough Council's litter enforcement officers have the power to serve fixed penalty notices on anyone seen littering the town, including those who throw cigarette butts from cars.

The incident involving Mr Thorpe and his son comes only days after a man in Warwickshire was fined £100 and given a criminal record for tossing a butt from his car.

Darren Sneddon, from Mancetter, was prosecuted by North Warwickshire Borough Council after he failed to pay the fixed penalty notice.

Have you been fined for dropping litter? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk