MOST days, but particularly at weekends and on race days, the city's streets are covered with the refuse dropped by customers of fast-food outlets.

These remains - boxes, chips, bits of pizza, chicken bones, etc - are a health hazard as well as being unsightly. It is time for the council to use its new powers under the licensing authority and health and safety measures to make each outlet responsible for picking up its litter within, say, a quarter of a mile radius of the shop.

This is widely done in cities across the Continent and should be the norm in York.

John Webster,

South Parade,

York.

Updated: 11:21 Wednesday, September 08, 2004