Volunteer cleaners in Leamington forced to abandon work due to verbal abuse and being faced with people 'injecting their genitals'

Leam Trash Friends cleaned up areas near the Eagle Recreational Ground. Photo supplied

Volunteers who were cleaning up an area in Leamington were forced to abandon their work after they were verbally abused and faced with 'people injecting into their genitals'.

Leam Trash Friends, who are a group of volunteers that work to clear up needles, rubbish and fly tipping from the streets, have been working to clean up areas in Leamington this week.

Today (Friday February 25) the volunteers were cleaning graffitti in the alleyway, which starts at the end of Clarence Street, when they were faced with problems.

A spokesperson from Leam Trash Friends said: "We haven't quite completed our work on the rangemaster alleyway as we had to abandon the work due to abuse and people injecting into their genitals in front of our volunteers.

"We will have an officer off the local SNT present when we return to complete the work - we plan to return next week to finish things completely.

"As part of our fundraising efforts the decision has been taken to raise money to purchase a body camera for our volunteers who attend to troublesome locations."

Earlier in the week volunteers went to the Eagle Recreational Ground, where they removed more than 100 needles from across the park boundaries.

Before and after photos of the alleyway, which starts at the end of Clarance Street, that was cleaned by Leam Trash Friends. Photos supplied

They also removed needs from around the Grand Union Canal area.

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Volunteers are also trying to track down the owner of a bike (pictured) which they found during one of their clean ups.

The spokesperson said: "We desperately need help to reunite the bike to its rightful. Police wont take it as we can't identify its owner.

"We only have a short period of time that we can keep it safely stored. Proof of ownership will be required before we hand it over."

"We have been working tirelessly behind the scenes as well as what we've posted on our socials since January 2022 to resolve the issues in this locality.

"We have removed over 200 used needles, collected over 60 sacks of litter and engaged positively with Leamington Police whom after our request have installed signage and increased patrols of the area.

"We also installed a temporary street bin to collect rubbish instead of being thrown on the floor.

"As we strive into our third year we need funds to continue operating, please donate at: https://gofund.me/193402a4 or PayPal with [email protected]