LATE-NIGHT revellers were today warned they faced a potential fine of up to £200 if they urinate on Ipswich streets.Drunken louts are staining our pavements with urine, sick - and even faeces and this could be a big problem over the New Year period.

LATE-NIGHT revellers were today warned they faced a potential fine of up to £200 if they urinate on Ipswich streets.

Drunken louts are staining our pavements with urine, sick - and even faeces and this could be a big problem over the New Year period.

The latest research by the Audit Commission shows there are only 13 public toilets in Ipswich open 24 hours a day - compared to 19 in Peterborough and 22 in Norwich.

Nigel Tansley-Thomas, regional director of Keep Britain Tidy, said: "Since 1995, the amount of public loos in Britain has halved.

"These yobs who openly defecate the streets are absolutely selfish. They don't care who has to clean up their mess - or who has to foot the bill.

"The police have powers to arrest you for using the street as a lavatory. So if you don't want a spell in the slammer, use a toilet or curb your excesses this New Year."

Suffolk police Inspector Mike Hishelwood said that people could be instantly fined £50 but sometimes then charged on a more serious offence.

He said: "Very often that behaviour is indictive of what their attitudes are and some people urinating in the street are arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour."

That would lead to the person spending time in a police cell, having their finger-prints taken and could result in up to a £200 fine.

Inspector Hinshelwood added: "It is one of those things and it happens every day but most people will try to be a bit discreet about it.

"But there will be a lot more people on the streets on New Year's Eve and a lot of them will be drinking."

Across the UK, hundreds of street cleaners will be out over the New Year period taking time out of their celebrations, to clean the urine stained, sick-soaked streets left behind by our festive frolics.

The research revealed that in Westminster alone, street cleaners shift two million pints of urine per year and 300 pools of vomit every weekend.

Using the streets as a giant toilet stains pavements, corrodes buildings and spreads diseases such as Salmonella and E.Coli.

A survey shows that pavements in shopping areas, housing estates, bus and train stations across East Anglia were "unsatisfactory."

n What do you think? Write in to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk