STREET wardens find more needles dumped in Blackbird Leys by drug users than any other Oxford estate, a warden says.

Senior street warden Malcolm Taylor said the numbers of ‘sharps’ – mostly hyperdermic needles and drug paraphernalia – varied from month to month, but Blackbird Leys generally had the most.

There are 13 street wardens who patrol Blackbird and Greater Leys, Rose Hill, Littlemore, Wood Farm and Barton every day.

One of their main jobs is picking up and safely disposing of sharps.

Between July and December last year, the team recorded 260 incidents across the city.

Each find can contain a number of needles and drug-related items.

Mr Taylor said: “At the moment we are finding a few more in the Blackbird Leys and Rose Hill area.

“In Rose Hill there are so many boarded up properties. It can be in gardens or by boarded up properties.

“In Blackbird Leys it’s different places – by Blackbird Leys bridge or Spindleberry Nature park.

“They are just two areas we’ve found them in the past. Otherwise it’s on the street.”

He added that after last month’s snow melted, the wardens found sharps “all over the place”.

Last month, they recorded 12 needle finds in Blackbird Leys. One incident involved 11 unused needles dumped near the tower blocks in Blackbird Leys Road.

In December, they recorded seven incidents, including one where eight syringes were found in a drain.

Mr Taylor added: “We might have four to six finds on a quiet month. Twelve is quite high.”

He warned members of the public not to pick up discarded needles but to call the city council.

He added: “It can be quite a serious hazard.

“We do talk to the kids at school and the adults, and urge people not to pick them up.”

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk To report an incident, call the City Works hotline on 0800 7831957.