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Father’s fear over needles

17/ 4/2008

A DAD-of-three fears his children’s health could be put at risk by drug addicts’ needles.

Mustaq Hussain, of Mark Street, Heybrook, Rochdale contacted the Rochdale Observer after reading that the council was taking action to clean up nearby Park Road and Athol Street.

The 34-year-old claims that the situation is worse than ever and is urging the council to remove the drug paraphernalia.

He said: "It made me angry when I recently read in the Rochdale Observer that the council had cleaned the area. I went outside to look and the needles were still there.

"I checked again last week and again they were there and still posing a health risk to children in the area.

"I don’t let my children play near there anymore because it’s just not safe for them. It makes me scared to let them out of the house because it’s very dangerous."

Mr Hussain eventually decided to remove some of the needles after fearing that a child would have an accident. He now hopes that the issue will be taken seriously so that residents won’t have to worry about the situation.

He added: "It’s really bad that we have to keep complaining about this because it’s a serious issue. I just hope the needles will be taken away and the area will be properly maintained."

Gordon Beverley, street services manager for Rochdale Council, said: "We take reports of discarded needles very seriously and send teams to remove them as soon as we get notified. In this instance we removed needles from the area on Athol Street but received further complaints to say the needles had not been taken away.

"After the team revisited the location several times to find nothing they then knocked on doors and spoke to residents who then pointed them in the right direction and the needles were removed.

"People should report such problems to us on 0845 226 1800 with an exact location and we will get a team out immediately to investigate."