HOMELESS people desperate for a nicotine hit are believed to be stealing public cigarette bins in Dorchester to get at tobacco from discarded butts.

Dorchester litter campaigners have overseen the installation of 90 stainless steal wall-mounted cigarette butt bins across the town in a bid to reduce the amount of litter caused by cigarette butts.

However, the Stop the Drop team were disgusted to find that, on a recent maintenance check, 14 inner trays to the bins had been removed.

Six further trays had already been removed earlier in the year, taking the total amount stolen to 20.

The 20 trays were taken from outside 10 different premises, six of which are pubs and one a restaurant.

Stop the Drop campaigner Bob Kerr said: “Two publicans have told the group that they believe vagrants are taking the liners to remove the tobacco from the butts in order to roll their own cigarettes. “Why else would anyone want a bin full of cigarette ends?”

The butt bins, which have become a familiar sight around the county town, were installed through a project supported by West Dorset District Council, Dorset County Council, the Dorchester BID (Business Improvement District), the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Dorchester Town Council.

They are designed so that West Dorset District Council’s street cleaning team can use the inner trays to safely dispose of the contents.

Without the trays, which cost £8 each, the butts fall onto the pavement.

However, the Stop the Drop group has received further support from the Dorchester BID, which has pledged to cover any additional expenses incurred.

Active treasurer Felicity McLaren said: “Some businesses simply can’t afford to continually replace these items, but now the Dorchester BID has confirmed that it will provide some additional financial support for replacements.

“Meanwhile, we ask the public to please keep their eyes open for any stainless steel trays or people taking them, and report such thefts to the police.

“Similarly, if anyone sees people damaging the bins, let the police know.”

Mr Kerr said the group had reported the thefts to the police, but without any identification of the culprits there was little the police could do.

Sergeant Steve Yeoman of Dorchester’s Safer Neighbourhood team urged anyone who witnessed thefts of the trays to contact Dorchester Police Station on 01305 222222.