A local Scunthorpe newspaper reports on a mother who says she faces a year-long wait to see if her son has contracted Hepatitis C after falling on a needle left outside her flat.

The six-year-old was taken to hospital after falling on a needle outside his family home on Albert Marson Court in Scunthorpe.

A tale that today is perhaps rather predictable. We have heard it all before. But this time, the report goes into some detail, of life among needles had fallen out of a box that had been dumped outside the flats where it had remained for almost a week.

Was this a drug litter issue, or a failure in packaging of domestic sharps and/or domiciliary collections?

The mum said the box had been outside the front of the flat for around a week prior to the incident on July 29. Attempts had been made to get North Lincolnshire Homes to clear the rubbish, but they had not been forthcoming.

She had lived at the property for seven years in which she had encountered a number of problems. “I have a needle stabbed in my door because I have been mistaken for a smack dealer, someone has urinated through my door and the police raided my address at 10pm while my kids were in bed as a drug-user  gave their bail address as my home,” she said. “This is the final straw with what has happened to my son.”

A cynic might suggest this was a ploy, or at least an opportunity, to be rehoused, while many others would sympathise with her plight and feel reassured that it was her and not us living in those conditions. But it happens to many, and in particular the presence of discarded drug paraphernalia and the various comings and goings that are part of the drug scene can quickly destroy neighbourhoods.

Though the solutions are complex and far from certain, prompt and consistent cleaning of discarded drug litter can make such a difference to the stability and wellbeing of communities who should not be cast off to a life among needles.