A VOLUNTEER who picks up litter from the side of the roads in Furness has declared war on motorists who discard rubbish.

Martin Stables from Great Urswick is growing 'sick and tired' of litter louts who throw their waste from cars and create 'a blight of rubbish on our local roads and verges'.

He has dedicated his spare time to collecting tonnes of litter from the roadside and is disgusted at what he has found.

"I’ve systematically cleaned my local road system of appalling amounts of rubbish and soon find fast food chain litter strewn across the same roads in a matter of hours," he said.

Mr Stables has collected beer and wine bottles, junk food wrappers, and countless plastic bottles.

The amount of rubbish 'strewn across the countryside is nothing short of a national disgrace', he says.

"Nothing changes, the source of the matter is never tackled and the merry go round continues," he added.

"We all know of its presence, whether it be our parks, environmental areas, water ways, woodlands, playgrounds, you name it and you’ll find rubbish.

"You can’t help but be aware of all the media coverage of what we’re doing to planet earth and the calls for us, as individuals, to make a difference to halt the decline.

"I for one have no need to be told of how bad things are, nevertheless, the almost daily decline can be seen countrywide, for myself, the task has further confirmed my opinion that this country’s a dump."

Mr Stables said the only way to deal with the problem is by coming down hard on offenders.

"It's got to stop.

"If you see rubbish being thrown about in whatever way then if you're able, take whatever photos you can, whether by helmet or dash cams or mobile, plus any details, and forward it to the local authorities.

"The laws are there, it just needs the will to enforce them, if it means inundating the system with offending to make progress, then so be it, we have to halt this epidemic as nothing else has worked so far.

"It's a war and one we have to win.

There’s only one language offenders understand, make the system hit them where it hurts, in the pocket.

"Accept no sob stories, just hammer them with heavy fines, I guarantee results will be seen."