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Mum-of-four calls for Dartford council to act over syringes dumped by drug users in Temple Hill

A mum of four has called for the council to take action saying drug syringes have been left on a residential street for months.

Belinda Franks, 25, of Patterson Court, Temple Hill, is sick of seeing her children forced to walk near the syringes, dumped by drug users, in Littlebrook Manor Way, also in Temple Hill.

Ms Franks said the council was refusing to remove the syringes and some had been left there for months.

Belinda Franks, with her daughter Destiny Jones, six, at the junction of Littlebrook Manorway and Henderson Drive, Temple Hill
Belinda Franks, with her daughter Destiny Jones, six, at the junction of Littlebrook Manorway and Henderson Drive, Temple Hill

She said: “There’s one needle that has been sitting by the wall for the last three months.

“My mum has been reporting it and we’ve now got photo-graphic evidence, because no one has been doing anything.”

Ms Franks said she had contacted Dartford council on numerous occasions and despite first helping to
dispose of them, workmen had now refused.

She said: “They’ve removed needles a couple of times before but now they’re saying they are on private property and they can’t do anything about it.

“My kids walk past the needles often and my eldest daughter, who is six, once asked ‘what’s that mummy?’

“I didn’t know how to explain what it was, so I just told her it belonged to a doctor.

“She walks past each time and keeps telling me the needle is still there.”

The syringes lie in a gap between a wall and a fence and Ms Franks said she first came across them when her daughter was walking on top of the wall, something a lot of local children do.

Needles are often found between the wall and fencing here at the junction of Littlebrook Manorway and Henderson Drive, Temple Hill
Needles are often found between the wall and fencing here at the junction of Littlebrook Manorway and Henderson Drive, Temple Hill

Needles, used for drug-taking, can pass on life-threatening diseases such as HIV and hepatitis and Ms Franks wants the council to clear them up before someone is hurt.

She said: “It worries me because my kids walk on the wall and what if one of them tripped or fell on to a needle?

“It’s not just my kids though, what if it happened to somebody else’s? A lot of kids walk on that wall.”

Dartford council said it had now dealt with the syringes and issues of this nature were always treated as a priority.

A spokeswoman said: “The council’s customer services team received a call from a member of the public at around 1.30pm regarding needles found in Littlebrook Manor Way.

“Our waste and recycling team attended and removed the four unused syringes at 4pm.”

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