CHEWING gum ‘droppers’ are proving a sticking point for fed-up South Tyneside shoppers.
The town has been increasingly plagued in recent months by bubblegum deposits dropped on the ground by thoughtless litter louts.
It’s a practice which needs to stop, according to a straw poll of townsfolk we approached outside Keppel Street post office – one of the worst affected areas in town.
Mum Kelly Brechin, 23, of Biddick Hall, South Shields, believes dropping gum is also a public health issue – and is particularly worried about her three-year-old daughter Summer having to pick it off her shoes.
She said: “There’s no excuse for it. They could put the gum in a wrapper and dispose of it in a bin.
“I remember when I was in Germany on a school trip, my friends were fined £50 for dropping paper and gum. We should take that approach here too.”
Kelly’s grandmother, Eva Brechin, 72, of Chichester, South Shields, agreed.
She said: “There are bins to drop it in, and it makes the town look so dirty.
“I’d support a campaign calling on the public to stop doing it. It’s not an age thing – the older people are as bad as the young.”
Terry Rylance, 75, of the Lawe Top, South Shields, said: “They clamp down on people who drop cigarettes, and dropping gum is much worse.
“Cigarettes wash away, but gum is impossible to get off the pavements.”
Jobless John Stuart, 24, from South Shields, added: “I always wrap my chewy in paper and put it safely away. “It doesn’t take much effort and prevents all of this mess on the streets.”
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