A THREE-year-old York girl narrowly escaped being spiked by a used needle callously thrown into her family garden.

Mercedes Wilson, of Ashton Avenue, Clifton, slid down her slide and just missed the needle, half-hidden in the grass.

Her mother, Kerry, who has another daughter, one-year-old Elicia, has pleaded with drug users to stop using her garden as a dumping ground.

Kerry said people use the alleyway next to her garden to take drugs and then throw their used needles over the hedge.

The needle at the bottom of the slide was the eighth she had found in her garden in recent weeks.

She said: "Mercedes was playing on her slide and I saw the needle right at the bottom of it, she had been on the slide about half an hour, going up and down, so we are really lucky she wasn't spiked.

"Mercedes is too young to know what was happening, but I went mad.

"My other daughter, Elicia, is only one and she likes playing out as well. I wish they would just stop doing it, it isn't fair."

Kerry, 24, added: "Why can't they leave us alone, and get rid of their needles somewhere else, somewhere safe?"

Chief Inspector Kevin Doyle, who covers the Clifton area, said drugs outreach workers employed to work in the area by the North Clifton Regeneration Partnership would be told of the problem.

He said: "The outreach workers are engaged in drug prevention and awareness work. We will make sure they are aware of this particular location.

"This is a very worrying and potentially dangerous occurrence, and I totally appreciate the concerns of the family.

"However, if we can put the information into the right hands I am sure progress can be made in this area," Chf Insp Doyle said.

Matt Knight, of Compass, a group that works with drug users in the York community, said an initiative was under way in Clifton to promote needle exchange programmes.

Compass and the Clifton Regeneration Project have joined forces to offer advice, education and support to drug users in the community. Resident groups are also being given information on how to identify and deal with discarded needles.

He said the group's Bridge Street centre exchanges over 800 needles a month, and that 90 per cent of needles given out by the centre were returned.

A City of York Council spokesman said: "Like every other city, people are using drugs and needles and disposing of them. Our staff come across them every day and work very hard to remove them.

"People who find needles should phone us on 01904 636000. We make their collection a priority."

Updated: 10:43 Friday, October 04, 2002