A LITTER picker was shocked to find shards of a broken vodka bottle in a popular Droitwich park.

Neil Franks, a volunteer litter picker,  found the dangerous shards in the Mayflower Open Space Park, on Mayflower Road, last week (Tuesday, January 17).

He said he was "shocked" to find the shards near the children's playground equipment.

Mr Franks said: "I was litter-picking with a fellow volunteer, Nicola Morris, and I noticed the broken top of the vodka bottle close to the entrance of the park.

"I went into the park to check if there were any shards and was shocked to find them all dispersed across the park near the playground equipment.

"We picked up as much of the bottle as we could see but I still felt like it needed a second set of eyes to make sure it was safe so I reported it to Wychavon District Council."

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Bromsgrove Advertiser: Glass shard by the swings in the park.Glass shard by the swings in the park. (Image: Neil Franks)

Mr Franks was surprised to be told that finding broken vodka bottles in the park is "not uncommon".

He said: "As I was leaving the area with a couple of full bags, I noticed a woman walking towards the park with two large dogs so I just wanted to warn her in case there were still shards hidden in the area.

"When I told her about the glass she stopped me and said 'let me guess, broken vodka bottles', which was so surprising.

"She said it's not uncommon to find broken vodka bottles in the park regularly which is extremely worrying to think about.

"I contacted the council again just to ask if anything could be done and the area was not highlighted as a problem area but they said they will be keeping an eye on it."

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Jonathan Hulbert, senior parks and greenspace officer for Wychavon District Council, said: “This is the first time we have been made aware of an issue regarding broken glass at that spot. We have no record of reports of anti-social behaviour at the site.

"Our contractor litter picks the site three times a week and has not reported any ongoing issues. We’ve asked them to monitor the situation and report back to us with anything of concern.

"If anyone does spot anti-social behaviour occurring at that spot then they should contact the police.”