April 4: Countryside needs to be protected from litter

SINCE my original letter was published about litter (The Yorkshire Post, March 13), I have been pleased to know that other readers are as fed up with litter as we are.

I agree with David Craggs (The Yorkshire Post, March 28) when he says why not confront litter throwers? It’s no good tutt-tutting and doing nothing.

I was speaking to another Ryedale resident recently about litter. She told me of an incident which she witnessed close to her home. Someone in a passing car opened a window and threw a bag of rubbish out. She took the car’s registration number and phoned the police. They traced the car to South Shields and found that the people in it had been out with their grandchildren on a visit to Ryedale. What an example to those children. The adults were cautioned and told that they faced a fine if this offence was repeated. I would have fined them at the time. The police say that they take this offence seriously. All littering is technically fly tipping.

So, if you see people littering, please do something. My husband and I are not too proud to pick up other people’s litter. Most towns are cleaned, but it’s the countryside which also needs to be looked after. Why visit a place of beauty and trash it?