Parents have been urged to warn their children about the health hazards of discarded syringes after a 12-year-old found a needle containing traces of blood lying in the street.

The warning comes from York man Len Smith, whose son Liam found a hypodermic syringe 20 yards from his home at Winchester Avenue, off Poppleton Road.

Mr Smith said: "My four children were playing with their friends when they found the needle near a drain. It had a plastic guard on the needle point and contained spots of blood. What it contained, I don't know.

"We have a Neighbourhood Watch scheme but it is getting to be a regular occurrence and parents need to be aware of the dangers of HIV and hepatitis."

In 1996, Mr Smith, 41, a scaffold erector, was almost stabbed by a heroin user's discarded syringe while dismantling a scaffold at Clifton.

A four-inch syringe slid out of a steel tube and bounced off his shoulder, narrowly missing his face.

He has handed the syringe found by his son on Sunday to police for safe disposal.

Staff at the Drugs Resource Scheme (DRS) at Bridge Street in York run a confidential needle exchange scheme for intravenous drugs users and provide tough plastic cylinders for the safe disposal of needles, free of charge. The scheme also operates through pharmacies in York and Selby.

Kathy Stone, of DRS, said: "Any bits of rubbish of this type can be dangerous and we would advise parents and children not to touch them but to ring us for advice about safe disposal."

DRS can be contacted on (01904) 647474.

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