Furious locals have branded day-trippers 'scum' after Weymouth Beach in Dorset was left covered in rubbish following the Bank Holiday heatwave. Temperatures soared to 35C across parts of Britain, prompting thousands to flock to the coast, but many left behind mountains of litter including empty booze cans, burst inflatables, dirty nappies and plastic toys.
Volunteers from the Weymouth & Portland Marine Litter Project said they were disgusted by the condition of the popular seaside spot. Despite nearby bins being crammed with bags of waste, many visitors appeared to ignore the usual 'take it home' beach etiquette. The environmental group spent hours collecting more than 10 bags of rubbish during an evening clean-up operation, and Sunday was reportedly no better, with volunteers discovering a record seven dirty nappies dumped on the beach.
A spokesperson for the group said: 'People sometimes wonder why we clean the beach in the evening when we could just leave it for the council the next morning? All this rubbish including plastic toys and nappies was below the high tide line and would be in the sea by morning. Why people find putting rubbish in the bin rather than next to it too difficult is beyond me.'
Members of the public were left furious over the scenes, with one person commenting: 'Suns out, scums out.' Another added: 'And they say dogs make a mess.' One commenter wrote: 'Broken Britain', while another said: 'Just bone idle, too lazy to put the rubbish in the bin.'
The rubbish will now be sorted to separate recyclable waste from material destined to be incinerated. Temperatures reached a scorching 35.1C in London on Bank Holiday Monday, breaking the record for the warmest May day ever recorded in the UK, which had stood for 82 years.
