WEST Marton residents Ryan Meyers and Michael Smith were so fed up with litter being thrown from cars going through the village, they organised four Saturday litter picks.

With support from the villagers and equipment supplied by Craven District Council, they collected more than 200 bags of rubbish, including televisions, car parts, road signs and lots of bottles and cans.

And, in future, villagers will take the registration numbers of cars from which litter is thrown and pass them to the police.

They said: "It's unbelievable what people do with their rubbish. Instead of taking it home they just chuck it out of their car windows. We even had a half full can of larger thrown at us as we picked up the mess.

"This was a great community event, enjoyed by all, even though the weather was awful. We urge all North Yorkshire villages to do the same, before the nettles grow too high."