A COMMENT posted on Herefordshire Council’s Facebook page about needles and pools of blood in Leominster public toilets has sparked outrage.

The comment, posted on April 11, highlighted a visitor’s ‘absolute horror’ when they made the discovery in the public toilets in Broad Street while with two children.

The post also called into question what would happen if a child used the toilet without an adult and picked up the needle.

Herefordshire Council has confirmed that it was made aware of the complaint regarding needles being left in the public toilets on Broad Street in Leominster on April 10.

Kerry Thomson, communications officer at Herefordshire Council, said: “Public toilets are regularly maintained, however as is the usual procedure when anything of this nature is reported, an Amey operator was dispatched immediately and the toilet was cleaned and any drug related paraphernalia removed.

“Many public toilets, where it is known that regular drug use takes place, have provision for the safe disposal of needles and equipment and messages are routinely disseminated through pharmacies and other agencies to ask drug users to use these.

“The council is one part of a large multi-agency task group that includes West Mercia Police, Amey, environmental health officers, housing agencies, health representatives, emergency services and others who work together to tackle anti-social activity in public areas.

“The council’s community safety officer has logged this incident and will be reporting it to make all partners aware and the need for ensuring situations like this don’t happen.

“This was an unfortunate and distressing incident and while all partners aim to ensure that public toilets are kept clean and safe for everyone, sometimes they are still misused.”

The post was ‘liked’ by 134 people and attracted 38 comments from angry residents who called for the issue to be properly addressed.