Graffiti costs �100m-a-year to clean

London mayor Ken Livingstone is launching a fight against graffiti in the capital.

He is being joined by 27 borough police commanders at City Hall to launch the plan which targets the sale of spray paint.

It is thought that the scheme will see shop-keepers signing up to a voluntary code in which they promise not to sell the cans of paint to youngsters.

But critics of the move say it does not go far enough.

Earl Whiskey, a youth worker for Hammersmith and Fulham Council in west London told BBC London 94.9 that a voluntary code was bound to fail.

"To buy a packet of cigarettes if you are underage is illegal and shopkeepers are not permitted to sell it to them, but they still do," he said.

�100m cost

"They know they are breaking the law.

"Now we are talking about a can of spray paint which is not illegal, not to be sold to a young person.

"Asking them to say they won't sell it is one thing, them not doing it is another matter."

A study for the London Assembly last year put the cost of cleaning up graffiti in London at �100m.

British Transport Police say cleaning graffiti off trains and stations costs London Underground about �50m-a-year.