I WAS horrified to see this rubbish strewn over the pavement at Micklegate Bar around 10am on a Saturday morning as all the shoppers walked into town.

The previous night there had been a stack of bin bags left out by the occupiers of the adjacent flats. Obviously it's not the binmen's fault one burst, but as they are not accountable to anyone they didn't bother to clear it up.

Your recent article about the wonderful job that York's street cleaners do when we are all sleeping is not totally true. A number of staff are most conscientious, but there are still many that have the attitude, because their jobs are guaranteed no matter what, that they do as little as possible for as long as possible.

Just watch some of them walking around the city centre picking up the odd piece of litter with those pathetic elongated claws they have to use rather than the good old brush and shovel. Also notice how the bits of rubbish on the floor are ignored by the emptier of the rubbish bins in the city centre.

A final grouse, could it be possible to have a bye-law requiring the occupiers of all commercial premises to make sure that the pavement outside their premises is not littered with fag ends? Pubs are the worst culprits, but some offices are a close second.

J M Jones, Blossom Street, York.