WE visit York three or four times a year to enjoy the city and see relatives and we always find something new to catch our eyes. On Saturday July 28, we certainly did.

We arrived at the car park by the river after a two-hour drive and for the second time the toilet block was boarded up.

I understand there has been trouble with vagrants.

With the revenue from the large-capacity car park, I think an attended toilet is essential during the summer because the nearest one is about 200 yards across roads, a difficult journey with two young children.

We later went down to the riverside only to find all the waste bins overflowing from the previous day and some very obscene graffiti on the paths and on the backs of the new seats.

Once we got into the city we had a wonderful day, as we always do.

We returned to the car five hours later to find nothing had changed since the morning apart from more rubbish surrounding the overflowing bins.

We like to sit by the river, have a snack and watch the boats before our journey home.

But I did not feel I could sit surrounded by rubbish and graffiti.

I hope that something can be done because this part of the river walk has deteriorated over the past year.

Mrs A Schmid,

Brisbane Road,

Mickleover,

Derby.

... I READ with interest David Quarrie's letter concerning litter in York (August 6) and I have to agree with him.

But I don't think the council or Evening Press should waste their time, effort and money on a campaign to basically teach the public how to do a basic task in life and put their litter in a bin or take it home!

Dropping litter is a criminal offence, but how often do we see people prosecuted in the courts?

The council should use its powers to employ litter enforcement staff like they do on the continent.

Let's hit the litter droppers where it hurts - their pockets!

Secondly, use the services of people who are on community service.

Give them a brush, black bags and a yellow jacket and let them help the community by litter-picking the areas of York which need a good tidy up.

I doubt very much that this will ever happen, but until people are penalised for dropping litter, then I'm afraid the problem won't go away.

P R Willey,

Burnholme Drive,

York.

Updated: 10:22 Thursday, August 09, 2001