Furious locals have branded day-trippers 'scum' after Weymouth Beach in Dorset was left covered in mountains of rubbish following the Bank Holiday heatwave. Temperatures soared to a sweltering 35C across parts of Britain, prompting thousands to flock to the coast. However, the aftermath has sparked outrage, with empty booze cans, burst inflatables, dirty nappies, and plastic toys strewn across the sand.
Volunteers disgusted by beach condition
Volunteers from the Weymouth & Portland Marine Litter Project expressed disgust at the state of the popular seaside spot. Hundreds of abandoned plastic beach toys were scattered alongside piles of rubbish and overflowing bins. Despite nearby bins being crammed with waste bags, many visitors ignored the 'take it home' beach etiquette.
The environmental group spent hours collecting more than 10 bags of rubbish during an evening clean-up operation. Sunday was reportedly no better, with volunteers discovering a record seven dirty nappies dumped on the beach. The rubbish will now be sorted to separate recyclable waste from material destined for incineration.
Public fury over littering
A spokesperson for the project said: 'People sometimes wonder why we clean the beach in the evening when we could just leave it for the council the next morning? All this rubbish including plastic toys and nappies was below the high tide line and would be in the sea by morning. Why people find putting rubbish in the bin rather than next to it too difficult is beyond me.'
Members of the public were left furious. One person said: 'Suns out, scums out.' Another added: 'And they say dogs make a mess.' One commenter wrote: 'Broken Britain,' while another said: 'Just bone idle, too lazy to put the rubbish in the bin.'
Record-breaking temperatures
Temperatures reached a scorching 35.1C in London on Bank Holiday Monday, breaking the record for the warmest May temperature ever recorded in the UK. The same record had been broken only 24 hours earlier on Sunday, when 33.4C was recorded at Kew Gardens. Before last weekend, the warmest May day had stood for 82 years, when 32.8C was recorded across the southeast of England.
Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid-to-high 20s across much of the country this coming weekend, before falling back towards the seasonal average next week.
