A 'DISGUSTING' amount of litter and food waste left over from Sunday night revellers reduced Westgate to a rubbish dump.
Shocked shoppers picked their way through festering pizza boxes, takeaway remains and broken glass, which were strewn yards from Westgate train station.
And the mess was not cleared until Tuesday morning, when Wakefield Council street cleaners ret
urned to work after the bank holiday.
Peter Gibbens, 48, was in Wakefield on Monday. He said: "I have seen anything like it. All the way down Westgate there were hundreds of takeaway boxes and bottles. It was a total mess.
"It was unbelievably disgusting. Sometimes you come into town on a Monday and it's a mess but never to this extent."
Wakefield Council said neighbourhood environment teams were deployed during weekends, and urged people to contact rapid response teams on bank holidays on 0845 8506506.
But Mr Gibbens, of Willow Grove, Ossett, added: "When I came into town on Tuesday morning at around 7.45am they had just started cleaning it up. I had a friend down from Newcastle and he couldn't believe it. Anyone visiting Wakefield would have had to pick their way through the mess."
Last week the Express reported an audit commission report showed Wakefield had the dirtiest streets in Yorkshire and Humberside in the year following March 31, 2006.
But council chiefs said the results were out of date, with more recent figures showing a significant improvement.
A spokesperson said neighbourhood patrollers could issue fixed penalty notices to deter littering, adding: "However, the litter is clearly from food outlets, which would mainly be problematic in the late evening when patrollers are not present.
"We are currently working on a project to ensure these local businesses take some responsibility for keeping the environment surrounding their premises clear of this type of litter."
Mike Walker, Conservative councillor for Wakefield West, said: "It really was awful. Let's focus on the simple things and get the streets clean. We have been having bank holiday Mondays for about 100 years and it doesn't take the brain of Britain to realise that when there is one, we need cleaning staff."
The full article contains 360 words and appears in Wakefield Express City newspaper.
