MORE than 20 supermarket trolleys and a few bicycles were just some of the items pulled out of the River Cole near Ocotal Way.

And it is becoming a more common sight, say environment workers.

A member of the Environment Agency team at the site said: "We're having to come and pick up stuff like this all over Swindon.

"It's a regular occurrence. From garden rubbish to other sorts of waste, we dredge up a whole heap of stuff that really shouldn't be under there.

"The big stores should really do something so that trolleys do not go beyond a certain point.

"They need to maintain stricter security checks. At the end of the day we are doing our best to keep the watercourses in the area clean and they just get abused all the time. There is so much we have to do and having to clear out watercourses constantly keeps us from doing our main jobs."

The council had already been to the site to have the majority of the rubbish taken away in a pick-up truck.

A cyclist who was passing by was pleased the rubbish had been removed.

"There are always trolleys and all sorts being dumped in here," he said. "I'm glad it's all being cleared out.

"Further along the waterway there are quite a few 25-litre containers lying as waste. They could be hazardous, since they look like chemical containers. They've been there for years and something should be done about them."

Gooch Street resident Ray Cutler, 77, has walked along the cycle path next to the river for years.

"I'm completely disgusted with the whole thing, to be honest," he said.

"It used to be a lot cleaner. The bridge over the old canal even, that's just gone to waste. It's nearly 200 years old and now it's just completely covered with graffiti.

"The council's talking about this canal that they want to build through town and I am sure it's going to turn into another dumping ground. It will be running through near pubs and that's just going to be a magnet for vandals and all other sorts of problems are going to surface."