A YOUNG woman had to be rushed to hospital following a suspected drugs overdose in Worcester as horrified children watched from a restaurant window.

A witness said the needle was still sticking in her arm as she lay slumped in Angel Street and could be seen by children in McDonald's.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city syringes were found in a doorway as the concerns are raised about the prevalence of class A drugs on city streets.

The 29-year-old woman was seen slumped in Angel Street with a syringe in her arm at around 3pm on Thursday to the shock of onlookers, including children.

The West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed they took her to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester after she had ‘taken an overdose of a suspected substance’. She was described as ‘very poorly’ by an ambulance service spokesman.

A man, who declined to be named, said lay sprawled on her back opposite McDonald’s and people, including children could see her through the window.

He said: “A woman was on the phone, saying she had overdosed on heroin. The needle was still in her arm and people were crowding around her. There were some younger lads on bikes checking out what was going on and they were saying ‘Oh my God, look at that!’. She looked like death. She was really pale. There was a lad trying to wake her up, tapping her on the face a bit.

“There were younger kids there too.

"A woman with a shopping bag, walked past, picked up her phone and called the ambulance and said ‘she’s taken heroin’. This is happening in broad daylight in a busy area with buses driving past. There was a woman walking past her with push chair. It was like something out of Breaking Bad."

He said he felt both horrified and disappointed and had also seen used syringes in other parts of the city while out running, including on Pitchcroft.

Syringes, still sealed in packages, could be seen in a doorway where Cheshire Cheese Entry meets Farrier Street on Monday.

However, a spokesperson for Worcester City Council said some of the mess, which included clothes, shoes and food had since been cleared away after the Worcester News contacted them.

A man who wished to remain anonymous said the mess had been there for three to four weeks and he had also seen dirty needles there in the past.

He said: "I'm surprised the council ain't come and cleaned this up. Businesses must have been phoning them up. I said to one of the addicts 'go somewhere else, there's kids walking past'."

A man who works for a business in Farrier Street said he had seen people openly taking drugs and an an ambulance had attended four times in the last six to seven weeks.

He said: "I've seen them shooting their drugs, anti-social behaviour and fighting. This is my business and I'm not happy about it. One of the paramedics had to administer a drug to counteract the drugs they had taken.

"There's also a lot of children who walk past here. They might rummage through that stuff and get their hands cut by a sharp. It's ruining the area. I feel sorry for the people who have to clean it up. It's bringing the area down."

A spokesman for Worcester City Council said: "The city council neighbourhood team have been to clear up the sharps and rubbish in the area. There are still some items there which are the property of the homeless people and therefore they have been left for them to retrieve them at some point. We cannot be 100 per cent sure they're not coming back.

"We are working with our colleagues in the police and CCP, our homeless service provider."