DIRTY needles were among drugs paraphernalia discovered by an eight-year-old boy scattered in the grass at a popular play area.

Fiona Lisseman said she felt sickened when her partner phoned to say son Kaylan had found used syringes, needles, wipes and disposable spoons on King George V playing fields, Brickfields.

Fortunately, her son knew not to touch the syringes after making the discovery on Saturday morning near to the entrance at the top of the park and instead alerted his mother's partner Steve Spence.

Miss Lisseman said: "My partner said he felt physically sick when he saw it and what made it worse was the children had found it.

"It's really concerning, especially in this weather when people are wearing flip flops - I would have gone crazy if it had scratched one of my children."

West Mercia Police said it already carries out patrols in the area and would deal robustly with any illegal or anti-social behaviour while Worcester City Council confirmed it had sent a team to remove the drugs paraphernalia.

It is the second time needles and syringes have been found on the well-used park after your Worcester News reported a similar discovery in May.

Miss Lisseman, from Tolladine, said: "Lucky enough my children know not to pick stuff up off the floor but a lot of children go on the field on their own.

"My son came running over to my partner saying he had found an "injection".

"It's really concerning.

"They should be disposed of correctly, not left on a field for people to find.

"The playing fields are used all the time by families, dog walkers, schoolchildren cross it and there is football for under 9s here too.

"I thought it was important to raise the issue so people can take care when they are on the field."

Both the council and police urged people to call 01905 722233 if they found drugs paraphernalia in public areas.

A council spokeswoman said the number can be contacted out of hours.

She added: "The city council has a service standard that hazardous materials are dealt with within 24 hours although we are usually able to deal with issues such as this find on the same day."

A West Mercia Police spokesman said: "West Mercia Police has very strong links with a wide variety of partner agencies across the city.

"As part of the Team Worcester Project we pass information on such as this to our colleagues at the Swanswell Drug Support services so that they can conduct Outreach patrols in these few area affected.

"We would encourage the public who experience or see any anti-social behaviour to contact their local Safer Neighbourhood Teams via 101."