A woman has been handed a fine after she was seen urinating in the doorway of a charity shop.

Chantelle Andrews was hit with a £220 fine and £88 victim surcharge and ordered to pay £200 in court costs for breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) by urinating in a public place.

The 38-year-old, of Windsor Street, Hartlepool, had been seen urinating in the doorway of a charity shop on Whin Street, Middlesbrough in June this year.

This is just one of the fines that have been handed out by the council for flagrant breaches of a powerful town centre protection law.

In another case, Catrina Holland was seen defecating on Brentnall Street in Middlesbrough by a Council Neighbourhood Safety Warden in June this year.

She was issued with a £25 Fixed Penalty Notice on the spot which went unpaid.

Holland, of Montrose Street, Darlington, was subsequently found in breach of the town’s TS1 Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) when the case was heard in her absence at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

The 50-year-old was fined £220 with an £88 victim surcharge and ordered to pay court costs of £200.

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Councillor Janet Thompson, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive member for Community Safety, said: “Our valuable public spaces are there for the benefit of everyone, and a great deal of work goes into maintaining and protecting them.

“Public Space Protection Orders are there to keep them clean and safe for law-abiding members of the public.

“The sort of behaviour demonstrated in these two cases is completely unacceptable, and I’m pleased that the courts are backing our efforts to stamp it out.”