DRUG addicts "shooting up" in public are hitting businesses in a Leigh street.

Staff claim customers are turning away from their car parks and they have been so intimidated they have been forced to lock themselves in their offices.

Quest Homes and Suzanne's beauty salon in Vernon Street want the area cleaning-up, but claim nobody will take responsibility.

Last week a section of the car park next to Quest Homes was awash with discarded needles, empty wine bottles and human mess.

Employee Vicky Slater said: "We obviously have a massive drugs problem in Leigh. We see different people injecting on the private car park and feel frightened. The place is in a shocking state with discarded, broken needles everywhere. I would hate a child to step out of a car and on to them,

"It is not very nice working with this around us, it is disgusting, but no-one wants to acknowledge the problem.

"It has got worse since Tims and Parker moved into Bradshawgate, opposite Vernon Street. I have reported the discarded packets and needles to the chemists and they have offered to dispose of them for us, but I'm not picking up the dirty needles.

"There should be an area in the chemist's where they are allowed to inject themselves away from the public."

Company owner Richard Gregory said: "We moved in here in April and since then the situation has got worse. We see addicts injecting in the car park every day and though we have reported the incidents to the police they say it is not an offence to be a drug addict. We don't know what we can do."

A spokesman at the beauty salon next door said: "It is happening every day and clients have stopped parking round the back of the shop. The sad thing is no-one will take responsibility. We have even locked ourselves in the shop until 7pm because we didn"t feel safe to go out. We have to watch them urinating on the wall opposite and messing about.

"We have reported them to the police but they advised us to log the incidents ourselves."

A representative from Leigh MP Andy Burnham"s Leigh office who visited the site said: "This is downright dangerous. It seems with the relocation of the chemist from Railway Road the problem has moved from behind Leigh Town Hall to Vernon Street. The first job has been to arrange with the council for the needles to be picked up and the areas cleaned up. Further investigations will be made. We will not let this one go."

A police spokesman said: "Since June 1 this year police in Leigh have received only one report of drug taking on Vernon Street. The matter was investigated but no signs of drug taking were found.

"Police in Leigh have strong community contacts in Vernon Street and are not aware of any specific problems."