Nobody can be in any doubt that the city council is in dire financial straits with the threat of reduced services, job losses and higher taxes hanging over everybody’s heads.

Yet if you look around our otherwise beautiful city, you will discover that a lot of people are quite happy to throw their litter on the ground; litter that the council will have to pay – with our money – to have picked up.

I can’t think of any reason not to take your rubbish to the nearest bin before getting rid of it, aside from gross stupidity perhaps tempered with barefaced bone idleness.

Either way, the next time you toss aside that crisp packet or drinks can because you just can’t be bothered to carry it to the next bin, just remember that the council will be dipping its hand in your wallet to get it cleared away.

Julian Fletcher, Edgeway Road, Oxford