THE state of the rubbish strewn by-pass has bugged me for years.

Plastic bags and bottles thrown everywhere is bad enough, but on Monday I was horrified to see that graffiti vandals had struck, as far as I can remember, for the first time.

An unmissable creation "Free the Westleigh four" along with libellous insults to the police has appeared on fencing on the Westbourne Avenue-Leigh Road side of the road. If it wasn't such a blot on the landscape it would be hilarious!

Daubed fencing is all we need to give my Westleigh birthplace a worse name than it appears to have gathered over the years.

Just one silly incident can cause such damage to an area's reputation.

If I caught the people responsible there'd be no namby- pamby feeling sorry for the culprits. They'd be made to clean it up Army style with a nail brush and wearing day-glo jackets announcing "I'm a prize prat".