Jamie Oliver calls for a Singapore-style ban on chewing gum in public

He said the sticky residue made Britain look like a 'bomb site'

Some councils spend £200,000 a year cleaning up gum from pavements with high-powered hoses (Getty)

Jamie Oliver has called for a Singapore-style ban on chewing gum in public after accusing people who spit out the sticky residue of making Britain look like a “bomb site”.

Writing a personal manifesto to make the UK a “healthier, happier, cleaner place to live” for The Independent’s website, the campaigning chef turns his sights on those anti-social elements gumming up the nation’s streets.

“I’d ban chewing gum until they can invent one that doesn’t make every street in Britain look like a bomb site,” writes the restaurateur, in a mission statement which includes age restrictions on energy drinks and measures to encourage breastfeeding, including a ban on adverts for follow-up formula.

Jamie Oliver says that he wants Britain to be a ‘healthier, happier, cleaner place to live’ (Getty) (Getty Images)

Oliver’s plea to end gum-infested streets and public transport echoes measures taken in Singapore in 1992. A ban was introduced after vandals prevented doors on the country’s new $5bn Mass Rapid Transit railway system opening and shutting by sticking gum over the sensors.

If I were Prime Minister... Jamie Oliver

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s late former Prime Minister, complained that a gum deposit explosion was hindering lift buttons in apartment blocks and damaging street cleaning equipment.

Since 2004, pharmacists and dentists have also been allowed to sell “therapeutic” gum, to customers with a medical prescription under the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

But $500 fines are still imposed for spitting out gum and leaving it as litter. It is believed 28 million Britons chew gum, spending £400m a year. There are an estimated 250,000 pieces of old chewing gum caking Oxford Street in central London.

The annual clean-up bill on the UK’s streets has been estimated at £150m. Some councils spend £200,000 a year cleaning up gum from pavements with high-powered hoses.