A MAN who had to clear up broken glass before his granddaughter could use a playground is urging the authorities to take action.

Paul Barlow said he was disgusted to discover the play area in Bicester littered with broken glass when he took his two-year-old granddaughter Liva there.

The 57-year-old, from Charlton-on-Otmoor, said he feared for the toddler's safety so much he was forced to clear up the mess before he would let her use the equipment.

He said: "Littered all around were empty lager cans and empty wine bottles and an empty vodka bottle and all the shards of glass from broken bottles.

"We picked it up and put it in the waste paper bins.

"My granddaughter was playing around and I looked down and there was lots of green glass - some sort of bottle had obviously been smashed.

"All I could see was shards of green glass everywhere.

"There was a little boy playing with his train set on the ground and he started crawling off on his hands and knees. It's just not good enough.

"They have no respect for property or children's play equipment.

"I'm not a big advocate of Big Brother-style CCTV cameras, but perhaps if they used the occasional discreet camera they could catch people doing it.

"I'm just disgusted at the state it was in. You would not take a young child there unless you were going to clear it up. It's just a dangerous place. They could get the most terrible lacerations."

A grandfather-of-three, Mr Barlow has written to Bicester Town Council and Thames Valley Police demanding action - including asking them to look at installing CCTV, putting on extra patrols and erecting anti-littering notices.

Bicester town clerk Anne Wilson said: "All the play areas are checked twice per week by contractors on behalf of Bicester Town Council.

"Now that I have been made aware of it we will keep a special eye on that particular site.

"Unfortunately glass is a problem all over town at the moment."