VOLUNTEERS in a community group have been left outraged after residents allowed a mountain of dog mess to pile up on a public path for a retired nurse to collect.

Valerie Bailey, a retired nurse in her eighties, has spent the last six years emptying, replacing and moving green volunteer rubbish bags on the Bolton to Bury cycle lane, behind Somerton, which almost entirely consist of dog waste bags.

She is known locally as "Auntie Val" for the selfless work she has done over the years - keeping her community clean.

Chris Banks, from Breightmet, spends hundreds of hours volunteering for Bolton NEWT because he is unfit to work.

He was furious to find that dog walkers had overfilled one of the green bags while Valerie was on holiday, which led to it splitting. Dog walkers then continued throwing dog waste bags on to the floor, he says, and some threw their general waste on top of the pile.

The 39-year-old said: "Valerie is a legend and has single handedly kept this path an enjoyable place to use for everyone in recent years.

"The person who's thrown their household rubbish here and the dog walkers who've thrown their poo bags on the floor, are lazy and shameful for expecting a retired nurse to clean it up.

"I thought we had a better community than this."

Chris has since cleaned up the mess, but has warned that if residents continue to be "ignorant" and "disrespectful", then this could lead to volunteers wanting to "throw in the towel".

He added: "If that happens, I'll be there within days with a pickaxe to remove both bins and place a trail camera on the path to ensure every person who drops a bag is fined.

"The community should be incredibly grateful for this thankless task Valerie has done for years. It's utterly disgusting how anyone can treat such kindness with such selfish disrespect.

"What I think people don't realise is that green bags are community bags, put there and collected by volunteers. If you see one that's full, then you could take it to the nearest place to get rid of it."