Hundreds of litter louts are going unpunished by Brent Council.

The local authority has admitted it has not fined anyone for dropping rubbish in the borough's streets for over a year.

Information, obtained by the Observer through a Freedom of Information request, shows that 114 fixed penalty notices for littering were issued between July 2007 and July 2008.

But none were handed to people dropping everyday litter such as cigarette butts, food wrappers and chewing gum.

Disgruntled residents have now hit out, calling for a harder line to be taken on the pedestrian polluters.

Councillor Anne John, leader of Brent Labour Party, said: "Unless people are aware that it is unacceptable to drop litter and enforcement action could be taken, they won't think it is an issue.

"I see people come out of fast food shops in the borough's high streets and drop burger wrappers all over the floor. No wonder we have a problem with rats."

The £6,000 worth of litter fines issued last year were either to businesses that unlawfully dumped waste on public highways, or flytippers who illegally disposed of bulky items.

The local authority said it purposefully focused its efforts on these areas, rather than people dropping litter in the street, because they were the major problems.

A spokesman for Brent Council said: "We don't enforce on-the-spot litter fines, because you have to see people in the act of dropping litter in order to fine them.

"Having officers standing around hoping to spot an offender isn't a good use of resources.

"Instead, we are cracking down on other enviro-crimes, such as flytipping; we fined over 100 people and took another 27 to court last year.

"We've also invested heavily in street-cleaning, and recent independent figures rated our streets as the fourth-cleanest in London."

The Labour leader said she disagreed with the policy and believed enforcers needed to concentrate just as heavily on the small-time litter louts.

She added: "Some of the parks look like World War Three on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon after football teams leave drinks bottles strewn all over the floor.

"If people think they can get away with it they are much more likely to do it."