Drivers who drop litter from their cars should be fined and receive a penalty point on their licence, campaigners have urged.

Keep Britain Tidy wants the penalty to apply even to those who drop apple cores and other biodegradable waste.

More than 700,000 bags of rubbish are collected from England’s roads each year, including fast-food litter, cigarette stubs, drinks cartons and fruit. Keep Britain Tidy said that almost a quarter of people (23 per cent) admitted to dropping litter from their vehicles.

Fines can be issued to drivers and passengers who drop rubbish from vehicles, but it can be difficult to identify who was responsible, especially if the vehicle was travelling at speed.

The campaign group said that in order to enable more prosecutions the owner of a vehicle should be made responsible for their passengers’ behaviour.

Phil Barton, the chief executive, said: “Our research shows that the best deterrent to stop motorists littering is points on their licence, community service and a large fine — in that order.

“It needs to be easier to prosecute offenders. The owner should be responsible for the actions of those inside the car. We therefore want the law to go further and see a penalty point put on the licence of those that litter from vehicles.

“Our streets have become a giant dumping ground. Drivers and their passengers should take their litter home with them.”

The call for tougher rules came as Keep Britain Tidy began a month-long campaign to encourage people not to drop rubbish from their cars.

Almost 100 councils in England will be working with the organisation to gather evidence on where and when littering from cars takes place.

Members of the public are being asked to report incidents of people throwing litter from vehicles to the Keep Britain Tidy website at www.keepbritaintidy.org. The group says that it will use the information to analyse trends on where and when offending takes place.

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