DRINKERS caught short on nights out will be handed a £50 fixed penalty notice following a clamp down on anti-social behaviour in Calne town centre.

Officers from Calne Police are working together with the CCTV team at Calne Town Council after residents on the High Street have been verbally abused or threatened when they have challenged people relieving themselves on their doorsteps.

PSCO Mark Cook of the Calne Community Police Team said: "It has been going on for several years now but recently one gentleman has had large numbers of people both male and female, who are coming to the town for big events such as the Christmas lights, and there is no where they can relieve themselves so they are going down alleyways or on people's drives.

"It is not very nice and Calne Town Council has recently upgraded its CCTV cameras, which have great night vision now, and we are trying to raise awareness of what we are doing.

"Recently the CCTV team has seen up to three people urinating in the town centre on the same weekend, which is unpleasant for pedestrians, residents and expensive for the Town Council to clean up."

One resident on the High Street said he has had to regularly clean the outside of his house with a bucket of hot water and bleach since the public toilets in The Pippin were closed.

"If people are caught on CCTV and we are unavailable at the time we are given the images and if we cannot identify them, we can release the images after seven days to the press and on social media," PCSO Cook added. "Nine times out of ten, people will give us the name and the offender can either choose to pay a fixed penalty notice of £50 or go to court if they wish."

PSCO Cook hopes that increased awareness of the clampdown and the fines people can face if caught will deter them from doing it as well as the reopening of the public facilities in The Pippin in the near future.

A spokesman from Calne Town Council said: "The terms of the transfer of the toilets from Wiltshire Council to Calne Town Council are currently being finalised. Calne Town Council hopes to open the facilities as soon as possible."