A man left disgusted with the amount of dog mess along Halstead’s River Walk has cleared the path himself.

Andy Bade, 50, of Kingfisher Meadows, picked up 42 piles left behind by other dog owners along the town’s usually picturesque walk, from Broton Drive to Chaffinch Way.

The builder said: “I usually walk my German Shepherd, Samson, early in the morning so I don’t go along the river walk as it is quite dark.

“However, I walked him a bit later on Wednesday so I decided to go down there.

“As I was walking along, he kept pulling me backwards which he doesn’t usually do.

“I looked at what he was pulling me towards and saw that is was a pile of dog mess.

“I started to count every time we saw some and there were 42 piles.

“I thought that it was disgusting.

“It has never been like this before.

“I don’t know if it some new people who have moved into the town and who aren’t picking up after their dogs.”

Mr Bade, who always takes several bags out with him when he walks his dog, went back and picked them all up with a trowel, depositing them in the red bins.

“It’s not hard,” he said.

“The bins are red and have a picture of a dog on them.

“It is just so lazy.

“It’s not bad dogs - it is bad owners and they give the rest of us a bad name.

“It doesn’t look nice for the town.

“Children play down the river walk and nobody likes it being walked into their houses.”