Used syringes left in Doncaster street for 24 hours

Residents say they are disgusted after used syringes, thrown from a car, were left in the street for 24 hours.

The incident, in which two syringes were thrown from a car window in King Street, Doncaster, was immediately reported but the following day the needles were still lying in the road.

A resident, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s disgusting that someone would do this and the fact the needles were still lying there 24 hours later is shocking. I couldn’t believe it.”

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The needles were thrown into the residential street near Doncaster Town Centre at around 1.50pm on April 3.

The incident was reported to South Yorkshire Police, who then referred it to Doncaster Council.

Former Doncaster Mayor Peter Davies said: “It’s despicable that the needles were left there for 24 hours. It seems both the police and council have failed in their duties and neither one has accepted responsibility to sort this out.

“This was a dangerous situation and put residents’ lives at risk. It should have been resolved immediately.

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“The fact that this happened in the daytime was even worse; anyone could have got hold of these including small children.”

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: “We did receive a report of two needles being dumped on Kings Road at around 1.50pm on April 3 .

“The matter was immediately referred to the council as it is classed as fly-tipping.”

Gill Gillies, assistant director of environment, said: “We acted upon a report to the council, identified the person responsible through the car registration and issued a fixed penalty notice for littering.

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“As we are concerned what else might be associated with this behaviour, we have passed information on to the police.

“This case should serve as a warning to anyone else who considers discarding drug paraphernalia or any other type of litter on the streets of Doncaster.

“There is an on-going multi-agency operation to address issues in this area which is proving successful in tackling environmental issues and reducing the opportunity for anti-social behaviour and drug abuse.

“We aim to remove needles within one hour of a report being made and so we are looking into what happened in this case and why this apparently did not happen.”

If anyone finds a needle they should call Doncaster Council on 01302 736000