Broken sledge litter really is snow joke

The piles of damaged and discarded plastic sledges littering the slopes of Sunderland are as odd as they are unsightly.

As we reveal today, the smashed and battered remains of these plastic toys could be found scattered around the hills near Silksworth Ski Slope.

The debris was the result of sledges being damaged after groups took to the slopes to enjoy the flurry of snow across Wearside.

It was an unusual and unexpected sight but also an unnecessary blight on our landscape.

While we accept that no-one intended to smash up their sledges, that’s no excuse not to remove the litter from the site.

A thought echoed by couple Becca Harvey and Michael Ward who, instead of enjoying the snow with

Michael’s seven-year-old daughter Sasha, spent 40 minutes clearing away the smashed sledges.

As they tell us today: “It was plastic chaos.”

Becca thought the damage was caused by people coming down the hill too fast resulting in the sledges breaking apart.

She feared the shards of broken plastic left behind were sharp enough to hurt a child if they were to fall on them.

Becca appealed to people to take more care and to take their rubbish away with them.

She said: "It’s not hard to take the plastic home and put it in your recycling bin. We should, more than ever, be looking after our local area and hopefully people will do that more in the future.”

Too true. Litter, no matter what its form, should be binned. No excuses.