GUM-DROPPING shoppers are being shamed into helping a council get rid of a sticky pavement problem.
To clamp down on residents discarding chewing-gum on the streets, Lewisham Council has dispatched a team to catch the culprits.
And to highlight the four-week scheme, actors dressed as lab workers are picking on offenders to shame them into using bins.
Council enforcement officers are also on patrol and can issue £80 fines for anyone caught out.
The campaign is being advertised across the borough's billboards and buses and chewing gum wrappers are being given away to encourage residents to think before they spit.
It costs the council £200,000 each year to remove gum from the streets.
Lewisham Mayor Steve Bullock said: "Chewing gum is a real nuisance. It gets stuck to people's shoes and clothes and is unsightly.
"We're getting tough on the small number of people who are causing unnecessary nuisance."
The initiative will end on September 22.
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