I HAVE been thinking of some time of writing in and challenging anyone who prefers to throw their rubbish on the floor instead of in the bin, to write to your paper and explain 'Why?'

Now, however, I suppose I really have no need as this morning I met and challenged just such a person. I was on my bike at the time, which obviously made me feel braver than usual!

I had cycled to the farm shop and was returning up the lay-by when a lorry driver threw two plastic sandwich bags out of his window. I stopped my bike and picked them up.

When I told him that they were supposed to go in the litter bin, his reply was that he would let me do it for him then. I threw them back into his cab.

As I got back on my bike and I noticed he threw them back out again. I asked him why he'd done this and he replied: "Everyone else does it".

When I asked him if he cared about the countryside he replied 'No' and that he couldn't make a difference. I picked up his rubbish and cycled away.

I hope this will make him think before he throws more rubbish out of his cab, and I also hope that reading this letter might make others think too.

I care passionately about the countryside and our local towns. We should put our rubbish in the bins or take it home with us.

Alan Titchmarsh is currently extolling the beauty of our great island on television. All the Alan Titchmarshs' of the future will have to show is the mounds of rubbish which we did not dispose of in the correct way. Shame on us all!

Mrs P M Hunt

The Oaklands

Droitwich Spa