Members of the community were left upset after a park in Workington was left in ruin.

The League Secretary for the Workington District Sunday League, Ron Caffrey, said he arrived at Curwen Park on Sunday morning to find broken glass and other litter on the pitch.

The park in Workington is regularly used by the Workington & District Sunday League and families in the area.

"When I got down there, I looked at it and I was nearly crying with the amount of broken glass that had been scattered from one end of the pitches to the other" said Ron.

"About a week before there was a great big pile of glass in a heap and thanks to two people who helped me, we cleaned that heap up.

"It took about half an hour cleaning it up and picking up these bits and pieces with out bear hands.

"What a pile it was.

"Over the last few weeks we've had problems with gangs of people going on to Curwen Park and having a rave, drinking, and smashing glass bottles.

"They've been sticking the bottles into the ground so you can hardly get them out.

"They're left about half an inch above the grass, so the cutter would smash the glass if he came along."

Grassroots football and organised outdoor sports have been allowed to restart in line with the Government's easing of lockdown restrictions.

Luckily, none of the football teams that use the park were affected by the littering as they were playing away.

However, the incident is still a major health and safety concern.

Allerdale Independents Councillor for Stainburn and Clifton, Peter Gaston said: "Its just very disrespectful.

"It's bad enough for plastic bottles and cans to be left about, but broken glass is very serious.

"It's dangerous and someone could seriously injure an arm or a leg.

"A lot of people go through the park for their walks and take their children there to play, because its a nice open space for people to run about.

"Whoever did this obviously has no thought for anyone else other than themselves."

The police have been informed about the incident and Allerdale Council have been sending in contractors to clean the mess.

Cllr Gaston added: "It's gong to cost an arm and a leg to go down and clean it up.

"People don't realise that these workers are being taken away from what they should be doing and it's all costs that could be going elsewhere."

Cumbria Police said that officers will pay passing attention to the area.