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This is what South Shields seafront looked like following a busy weekend in the town for the first South Tyneside Festival gig, with cans, plastic, glass bottles strewn across the sand.

Pictures taken on Monday, July 15, morning show a ‘shocking’ amount of litter discarded on the beach as the public urges others to take litter home with them.

Joanne Gledhill, who took the photographs, said: “I was shocked when saw all of the mess and presumed maybe people had stayed out late last night after concert in park.

Beer cans and plastic bottles were discarded on the beach. Picture by Joanne Gledhill.

“Street cleaners who I noticed were out did a good job as I went past again half hour later and it was all gone.

“There’s plenty of bins around and like said in most people have commented - take it home with you.”

The pictures were taken on the beach path near The Rattler, in Sea Road.

Hundreds of people have hit out at the amount of litter which has been left as the town looks to welcome thousands of visitors over the summer holidays which begin later this week.

Litter pickers were out on Monday morning. Picture by Joanne Gledhill

In recent years, the amount of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans has been widely documented – and it is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the world’s oceans than fish.

Councillor Joan Atkinson, lead member for area management and community safety, said: "Given the hot weather over the weekend and the fact that it was the first of the summer concerts there were high numbers of people at the coast at the weekend.

"While we welcome residents and visitors alike to our stunning coastline, we would urge people to dispose of their rubbish in the litter bins provided. Failure to do so could result in it being swept out to sea and damaging our marine life.

"We spend a lot of time and resources keeping our beaches clean and the Handy Estates beach cleansing team did a fantastic job in clearing the litter in an efficient and timely manner.

"We would encourage people to respect our beautiful beaches and leave only their footprints when it’s time to go home."

Shocking pictures show rubbish strewn across seafront following bustling weekend in South Shields