A NEWPORT teenager who found around 100 needles dumped in a popular lane has criticised the City Council for not removing them sooner.

Connor Morris, 16, said he first saw the pile of needles in the lane, which is used to access the Iceland supermarket off Clarence Place, on Friday.

The teenager used the route again on Saturday morning to get to the train station and found them lying in exactly the same place at around 9am.

Mr Morris, who was on his way to work in Cardiff, said he took a photo of them and that his aunt, who does not wish to be named, posted it onto the Argus social media site.

He said he was gravely concerned that children who often use the lane were at serious risk of injury or infection and tried to report the hazardous waste to the council over the weekend.

“I live about five minutes away and walk that route every day as it is a faster route to the station. I also walk my little sister along there.

“I have seen rubbish there before but never needles.

“There were around 100 with some scattered along the lane.

“I saw the council’s street cleaners and told them about it. I said that someone needs to clean them up straight away and they told me that it was not their responsibility.

“In my opinion it should have been done straight away.

“It’s not acceptable that they remain there for most of the weekend, with kids using the lane.”

Mr Morris said he had heard children asking their parents what the needles were.

“Some of them don’t have caps on it’s a real hazard.

“They should have cleaned it up as soon as I reported it to them and the matter made a priority.”

Mr Morris said the needles had been taken away by Monday morning but wanted to see a quicker response time in their removal.

He also made attempts to contact Newport City Council by phone to report the matter on both Saturday and Sunday and wants to see a weekend helpline set up for residents to report such incidents.

A Newport City Council spokeswoman said it’s streetscene department removed a quantity of syringes from privately-owned land at the back of Clarence Place on Monday.

She said that a number of syringes were also reported to be on the adopted highway at Clarence Place on Saturday and these were removed the same day.

“Fly-tipping is illegal and irresponsible, especially when it can put other people at risk, and the council shares the concern of residents.

“We would appeal to anyone with information about those who illicitly dump waste to contact the council on 01633 656656 or email info@newport.gov.uk