TOILETS in a Swindon Park have been closed after cleaners found them littered with drug addicts' syringes.

Swindon Council's direct services division swooped at the Town Gardens on Thursday after being alerted to the danger.

With summer coming, there were fears that children using the park might come into contact with the needles and other paraphernalia.

The nearest alternative public facilities are those at the top of Victoria Road in Old Town, near the Evening Advertiser building.

Council officials say the ones at Town Gardens will not reopen until advice has been taken from specialist community groups such as Druglink.

Geoff Lewis, director of Swin-don Services, explained: "We became aware of this problem simply because the toilets were full of used hypodermic syringes and other evidence of severe drug abuse.

"We found this out when our staff went to clean them.

"There have been a number of complaints from members of the public recently about drug users going in there.

"Our concern, of course, was that spent hypodermics and members of the public using lavatories was not a good combination."

Mr Lewis added: "The problem peaked in the last few days before we closed the toilets.

"We have closed them off temporarily for two reasons firstly, at some stage in the next two or three days we will be liaising with groups such as Druglink, who will know how to help us deal with the situation.

"And secondly, the last thing we want with summer coming is for the mothers and young children who visit the park to come into contact with things like this.

"At the moment, we can't give a timescale for reopening."