Boy Stabbed Toe on Discarded Needle While Playing in Loughborough Park. 3rd August 2017.

A nine-year-old boy was taken to hospital after he jabbed his toe on a discarded hypodermic needle while playing in a public park.
Mum Trisha Catterall told how her son suffered the puncture wound at Queen’s Park, in Loughborough, on Monday.
Trisha, from Loughborough, said she and a friend were watching their children play at about 11.20am.
Trisha told the Loughborough Echo the youngsters were chasing each other and playing in the bushes.

She said: “The children came out and said my son had got a needle. He came out very scared. It had punctured the top of his toe and it was bleeding.
“He said he had been playing in the bush area and slipped and that’s where the needle was. He didn’t want to touch it so he had shaken it off.
“As a mother I was shocked. It’s a drug thing and I was thinking what do I do.”
Trisha took her son to Leicester Royal Infirmary and took the needle with her.

The youngster had a blood test and was vaccinated. He has to have three more injections to protect against hepatitis B.

Trisha said : “It’s all been so traumatic and it’s not over yet. “When your little boy is crying because of an injection in his thigh, you think, why on earth are we going through this because of some idiot?”
“The needle that punctured his toe looks like an old one and looks like it has been there a while.
“It just goes to show that these places are not checked regularly.”
The hospital contacted the police and details were passed to Charnwood Borough Council.

A spokesman for the council said: “We’re very sorry to hear that this happened and we would like to send our best wishes to the child and his family.
“All reported cases of needles on council land are investigated and cleaned by our waste management partner, Serco.
“When we received the report they visited the park immediately and conducted a thorough search.
“They did not find any needles in the area during the search.
“All areas of our open spaces are checked and cleaned on a daily basis by Serco and our open spaces contractor, idverde, to ensure that they remain tidy.
“Staff are usually on hand in the park most of the time.
“We treat the discovery of needles extremely seriously and work with our partners to ensure syringes are disposed of properly in order to try to prevent this sort of incident.
“We’re not aware of any specific issues regarding drug users in Queen’s Park.
“However, there have been incidents in the past and we have taken proactive action to reduce these incidents.
“In December last year court injunctions were issued to individuals following anti-social behaviour, including drug paraphernalia which was found in areas of the town, including Queen’s Park toilets.
“We will continue to work pro-actively to tackle such issues and we would also encourage residents who find needles on council land to report it to us.”

A spokesperson from Leicestershire Police said: “We were called by a partner agency at 1.52pm to make us aware that a child had stepped on a hypodermic needle.
“We made the local council aware so they could carry out a clean of the area.

“We are not aware of there being a particular issue with this at the park.
“Anyone with any concerns can speak to the beat team or contact the council.”

This article is taken from the Leicester Mercury website.