A motorist was so outraged by the amount of rubbish littering a motorway he stopped his car – and collected two bin bags full of junk.
Simon Owens, 50, was disgusted when he pulled off the M5 at Bridgwater, Somerset, and found it blighted by crisp packets, drink cartons and road debris.
So he later returned to Junction 23 with a pair of gloves and dodged the traffic as he collected all the rubbish near the sliproad by hand.
He then left the two bags of junk at the roadside with a sign reading: “Please leave litter in car, thank you!”.
Simon, a cabinet maker, describes himself as an ‘amateur litter picker’ and frequently gives up his own time to clear up public areas blighted by rubbish.
He said: “Britain is clean in many areas but our roadsides are absolutely disgraceful.
“Grass verges are often covered in plastic bags and coke cans – I think drivers just don’t care, and chuck whatever they’re eating out of the window.
“Even so, I was shocked when I saw all that rubbish by junction 23, so I had to stop and do my part for humanity.
“A lot of countries do not care as much about litter as we do but we could always care more.
“My belief is we don’t need clean verges but I believe we want them. I want to live on a planet that gives the impression that human beings care about where they live.”
Divorcee Simon, of Sturminster Newton, Dorset, has launched his own website, www.
He said: “I am very keen on keeping Britain tidy. It’s something I’m very passion about.
For 25 years I have wanted to make an impression on the cleanliness of everywhere.
“So much rubbish is thrown from car windows. Hopefully litter pickers like myself can come together to clean up the British Isles as soon as possible.”
Thank you for the write up. Just to add, I took the sign and bags away with me. I didn’t leave them there!!!
If you could please add the fact that I took the two bags and the sign home with me that would be great. Thank you.
Well done Simon
Peter Silverman
http://www.cleanhighways.co.uk
Hi, me again, a lot of the words used in this article are not mine! It seems to have been rather dramatized which is a shame. For one thing I certainly didn’t dodge any traffic. I litter pick with care. And as for the words ‘outraged’ and ‘disgusted’, no, I have come to expect the state of litter in our Country. My attempt at trying to highlight it was basically a respectful ‘plea’ to those that litter, to please stop. Thank you!
Thank you Simon for all you do… for the down and dirty work of picking up the litter and for your creative ways to help educate about the importance of prevention. Great job!
The country is full of scruffs who should buy a skip andlivein it or get the council to pay there benefits to a skip company and live happily amongst the rubbish and plastic bags should be banned, it’s pure laziness and filth from trampy, horrible, selfish people