I WAS saddened by the story of five-year-old Kenzie-James Starks (“Ditched barbecue burns boy’s hand”, Daily Echo, 30 May) who was injured when he picked up a disposable barbecue, that had been discarded on Mudeford Quay, with the intention of doing what those who had used it failed to do - put in a litter bin.

Kenzie is to be applauded for having a respect for the environment that is sadly lacking in so many of the louts, yobs and downright lazy morons who use our pristine beaches and leave them looking like Corporation rubbish dumps - graphically illustrated by the appalling picture that accompanied the related story in the Echo the same day of the garbage left behind on the beach at Sandbanks after the last bank holiday weekend.

A lack of litter bins or bins that are provided being full is absolutely no excuse - pack your rubbish up and take it home.

Fifty years ago when I lived in Australia there were beach inspectors who fined people on the spot if they failed to pick up or dispose of their rubbish before leaving the beach.

Yes, the council’s clean-up teams do a fantastic job of cleaning up the mess - but that is treating the symptom, not the cause.

The salaries of a few dozen beach inspectors, authorised to issue on the spot fines to the anti-social morons responsible for vandalising the environment, could be funded wholly or in part from the fines collected.

The fact is, there could be a waste bin the size of a small car every 25 yards along the promenade - yet there would still be mindless scum too bone-idle and selfish to leave the beach as they found it.

And it isn’t only beaches that are blighted in this way. The bus stop on Poole Hill at the Triangle has a litter bin at each end - yet the benches are invariably decorated with cans, plastic bottles, and fast-food containers and wrappers smothered in ketchup and mayonnaise.

The council needs to take draconian measures to put an end to the problem.

Out of interest, I’d love to know just how many people (if any) have been fined for littering in our town over the last five years!

ROBERT READMAN

Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth