Four million pieces of chewing gum have been cleaned from streets in Croydon town centre over the past year.

The colossal total has been worked out by Croydon Business Improvement District (BID) which has spent more than £150,000 in the 12-month blitz on the scourge.

And this week BID - whose members are mostly town centre retailers - followed the effort up with a new intensive campaign to keep the streets as gum-free as possible.

The aim is to encourage people to think more carefully before spitting out gum, while at the same time warning them they face £75 on the spot fines if they are caught doing it.

The drive was launched yesterday by the Mayor of Croydon, Cllr Jonathan Driver and saw BID staff giving out handy packs of gum wraps to members of the public.

The packs contain pieces of paper which can be used to wrap gum in, before it is thrown into a waste paper bin.

The giveaway will continue until the end of this month.

BID is also employing a team of gum spotters to reward people they see using bins with £10 shopping vouchers.

On the stick side, the council's team of neighbourhood enforcement officers (NEOs) will be touring the centre, hunting those who are carelessly getting rid of their gum.

BID manager Ros Morgan said: "We will be closely monitoring the campaign at ten locations in and around the centre.

"We will be checking during it and when it ends to see what effect it has had on the amount of gum on the streets."

She added: "We have spent a lot of money on power washing the streets but clearing up gum is considered by businesses to be very important.

"It is all part of making Croydon a safer place and ensuring people enjoy themselves when they come here."

"There is no point in organising events like fashion and food festivals to get people in, if they find the centre is unattractive when they arrive.

"We want to raise people's awareness of the problem and alert them to their responsibilities", Ms Morgan said.

The Mayor added: "People are very concerned about the problem and they don't want to see others throwing it on the ground.

"Our NEOs will be taking strong action against those they catch."

"As a council we want to make Croydon a better place to live and work in.

"This campaign is part of the effort to improve people's quality of life."