MADAM, One evening recently, my family and I went for a walk in Hereford town.

As we walked through High Town we noticed all the chewing gum on the floor. It's disgusting and looks terrible! Even though the road sweepers do a really lovely job at cleaning away lots of rubbish I'm sure they would like the Herefordshire Council to buy or hire a special gum removing machine (I know there is such a machine).

I like visiting Hereford on Saturdays -it's a lovely city with lots of special places for people to come and visit. It isn't nice to visit a grimy town. It's a real shame that teenagers and adults can't use bins for their gum, I do it's easy!

So here's a message from me to every one who chews gum:

Please Don't Spit It, Bin It!

HARRIET LOUISE EMILY DUGGAN,

Cherrytree Close, Ewyas Harold.

MADAM, Congratulations Hereford Times for opening the eyes of Herefordshire councillors to the disgusting state of the city. £10,000 will not go far, but it is better than nothing.

Far more litter clearance is needed also, and as for the gum... I worked out that there are roughly 20,000 pieces of gum stuck to the High Town pavement, and that part of Commercial Street across the ring road and on the cinema side has some 14,000 pieces alone.

The filthy people who cause all these problems must also be prosecuted if caught, not just warned. It only takes one gap in the system for all the hard effort of one part of it to be wasted.

KIP WAISTELL,

Quay Street, Hereford.