Syringes found on school run

Concerned Karen Nixon says she and her son Callum, six, have found syringes four times while walking home from Holy Trinity Infant School, in Rodwell, Weymouth.

Now she is pleading with drug users to be more careful and warning other parents to watch their children.

Mrs Nixon, of Wyke Road, said: "Last week I found a carrier bag half full of needles hanging on the railings.

"Callum was walking along and knocked it off.

"Now I've found a single needle which has obviously been used and which looks like it's snapped.

"Just before Christmas I found two others along Wyke Road, and Callum and his friends have been picking them up too."

The mother-of-four says the needles are always at the same place, on the corner of Wyke Road and Gypsy Lane.

She said: "I find it quite upsetting because it's obviously dangerous.

"Environmental health came to take some from me and then the police came to collect the bag.

"But now I'm finding them again and I think people need to be warned.

"I've informed the school now so they can give out a notice to other parents walking that way."

Last month Maree Dethick-Jones told the Echo how her two-year-old daughter was nearly cut by used syringes when she was playing near Radipole Lake.

Head of environmental health Tony Beeson said: "If people see needles we would ask them to cover them with a stone and contact us immediately.

"Anybody who is injecting prescribed drugs is usually given a sharps box to dispose of them, so unfortunately most of the needles found in the community are from people with a drug habit.

"If a needle is fresh and somebody gets it stuck in their flesh there's a small risk that the person injecting could have hepatitis and it's possible that could be transmitted.

"If the needle has been in the environment for a longer time viruses don't survive forever, but we know there's the fear as much as the actual risk."

Anyone reporting a needle should contact environmental health on 01305 838000.