Parent disgusted by needle find

The parent, who did not want to be named found the discarded needle in the alleyway between Hope Street and Smithfield Park last Wednesday morning. They contacted the Times shortly afterwards.

A Times reporter arrived on the scene and without much effort found the needle lying in the alleyway and subsequently the council’s Environmental Health team was called.

The parent told the Times they were disgusted by the find. He said: “I was walking through the alleyway and just saw it lying there, you couldn’t miss it. It’s absolutely disgusting.

“I contacted the paper because I wanted to raise awareness of this. We shouldn’t have to stand for this disgusting behaviour. I would regularly cut through this alleyway for a short cut and I usually have my child with me.

“Thankfully on this occasion I didn’t, but what if a child had picked this up? Who knows what they could have caught?

“This has to stop before something terrible happens.”