AFTER listening to endless complaints about the state of Monkton Park, staff Tesco in Emery Gate decided to get their hands dirty with a community litter pick.

Seven customer assistants and two duty managers marched into Monkton Park on Wednesday afternoon to tackle the unsightly stream of rubbish that had been left around the shopping centre and near the children's play parks.

After just two hours of hard work, the team returned triumphant to the store with more than 20 full black bags and Tesco community champion Sue Andrews hopes it will become a regular event for staff in the town.

"A few customers were coming in and complaining about the state of the area, especially around the children's play parks, so we thought it would be good to send some of our staff out to try and help and they came back with more than 20 bags of rubbish," she said.

"They picked up all sorts of stuff from cans to wrappers and they also came across some unsavoury stuff unfortunately, which they did not pick up but will be reporting to the council.

"Tesco like to help the community as much as we can hopefully we can do this on a regular basis and hopefully make the town a better place to live."