A PENSIONER is demanding action be taken to clean-up a litter strewn stretch of canal which he claims has been dirty for months.

Derek Tranmer said debris, including plastic bottles, wooden boards and tyres have been seen floating on a stretch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal since April.

The 72-year-old, who lives in nearby Talbot Street, Burnley, contacted British Waterways at the beginning of April about the mess between Ormerod Road and Forest Street, and said he is still waiting for something to be done.

Mr Tranmer, said, he even saw three boys aged about ten playing on the boards on the water. He added: "I saw these big boards before Easter, and it was coming up to the boating season so I phoned British Waterways and I asked them if they could come and do something about it.

"These boards are still floating on the canal and on Sunday I saw kids playing and jumping between the boards.

"The rubbish is not only a health risk but also a serious hazard."

A spokesman for British Waterways apologised for the inconvenience and said the organsation was using a litter boat 12 hours a day to clean the canal between Burnley and Blackburn.

He said: "Unfortunately there is a sizeable minority who see canals as a place to dump rubbish.

"We are not happy with rubbish in the canal and we are doing everything we can to tackle the problem."

He added the rubbish had probably come from land on the opposite side of the canal to the tollpath, which they do not own.

In April a tonne of dead fish were pulled from a polluted stretch of the canal in the town between Barden Lane and Thompson Park.