Parents of a Dalbeattie primary school warned to be vigilant after a used needle was found in the school grounds.

Parents have been told to watch for dirty needles after one was found by children on a playing field at a primary school in South West Scotland.

Dalbeattie Primary School has sent a letter to parents to re-assure them about safety at the school and children are now banned from the playing field and more checks are to be carried out.

We may do a serious disservice to teachers, but school properties are shut up and unsupervised from about 4pm until around 8pm the following morning, throughout long holiday shutdowns through the summer, Christmas and New year, Easter etc, and over every weekend. Not surprisingly, this makes it likely that those intent on intravenous drug use find school premises an attractive proposition when seeking somewhere quiet to practice their habit.

Remarkably, it is schools staff, presumably the janitor is there still is such a role in the slimed down education sector, who are expected to search for and clear discarded needles from their premises. Indeed, most local authorities throughout the UK will insist that schools deal with the problem themselves, having provided the tools, a sharps bin, and some basic instruction in safe retrieval.