Sir – I read your article about language school students drinking in Headington Hill Park (July 29) with interest.

I don’t go to Headington Hill Park, so I can’t comment upon how bad the situation is there, however, I can tell you with confidence that the situation in South Park this summer has been appalling.

As a dog walker I am often in the park in the early morning, and it has reached the stage where I pray for rainy evenings so that the the picnickers, barbecuers and drinkers stay away. The mornings after warm, dry evenings are awful, with ever larger quantities of litter, and worse, strewn around the park. Disposable barbecues burn the grass despite notices prohibiting their use. Bottles and beer cans are left where the original owners finished with them, with no attempt made to put them in a bin — which is somewhat ironic as, unless you climb over the fence, you can’t actually leave the park without passing within three feet of a bin.

Broken glass is frequently lurking in unexpected places. The remains of takeaways, barbecues and picnics, often with chicken bones, are everywhere.

People use the wooded aread as toilets. It’s no fun trying to prevent a curious dog from investigating a pile of human faeces (and you can tell it’s human because there is often a pile of soiled tissues nearby).

I recently wrestled a plastic bag away from my dog and found it to be full of vomit. My wife came across a dirty nappy a few days ago. The parkies do an excellent job of clearing up most days, but really, why should they have to? The state that the park is left in most evenings is disgusting.

If the police can patrol Headington Hill Park, perhaps they’d like to pop down the road and have a look at South Park as well?

Mark Redhead, Oxford