Reader Ben is spot on
8:20am Wednesday 7th May 2008
READER Ben Ruth has really struck a chord with me this week thanks to his stunning picture of bottles dumped in a city beck.
He makes the point, quite rightly, that the problem of litter is ridiculous and the culprits should be brought to book. Of that there can be no doubt.
This is a problem that blights our city and something has to be done. Fines must be handed out to the brain dead miscreants - and it isn't just the beck that is suffering. It is the streets that often look like a giant litter bin.
OK, Lancaster City Council does its best to keep up with the tide of litter thrown down by brain dead individuals who don't even give it a second thought.
The street sweeprs are out early every day to clean up the detrr=itus from the day before... and the council's top brass make all the right noises about cracking down and so on. But now they must back up their words with action.
Fines must be handed out and the culprits named and shamed the Citizen will be more than happy tio do the honours there.
As our front page says, it is a disgrace that this beautiful area suffers so badly at the hands of litter bugs and fly-tippers. Such stories are an all too regular feature of this newspaper.
I, for one, am sick of walking through Lancaster and watching people casting their rubbish aside without a care - they should be punished.
Because, as it stands, visitors to our area must have a really low opinion of folks around here when they see the state of the streets and some beauty spots.
The odd fag end or sweet wrapper may not seem much at the time, just like the odd bottle being cast aside carelessly. But rubbish builds up and builds up and suddenly we have a tip.
We all have a share of the responsibility of ensuring it doesn't happen - just as much as the council have a responsibility to make the culprits pay.