THE boss of a pizza firm has hit out at Westhoughton litter louts after spearheading a rubbish collection.

Jon Lucas, of Stateside Foods, also organised for his staff to help the town's group looking after the railway station following recent thefts of ornaments.

The pizza supplier, based on the Wingates industrial estate, carried out their second Big Litter Pick on November 12 and gathered more than 50 bin bags of rubbish.

Mr Lucas said: “If everyone helped by putting their own rubbish in a bin, then our own town would remain a clean and tidy environment for everyone to enjoy.

“This is the second litter pick that we have organised around various locations in Westhoughton.

"All the teams really enjoyed themselves and people have already requested to take part in our next litter pick.”

Four teams of volunteers made up of staff from Stateside Foods cleaned up the district’s roads.

They were aided by Bolton Council providing litter pick grabbers, and Bagnall & Morris who provided a skip.

The haul of waste was gathered from Chorley Road, Manchester Road, Bolton Road, Chew Moor Lane, Long Lane, and the public footpath from Cherwell Road to Church Street.

Stateside Foods’ litter pick of the well-used footpath to the railway station has come following a recent article involving another poorly maintained footpath off Bolton Road which has since been cleared by the Community Payback Team.

Stephen Freeborn, chairman of Friends of Westhoughton Station, said: “I would like to thank Stateside Foods for their litter picking along the alley between Cherwell Road and Church Street leading to Westhoughton Station, which is often a mess.

“Stateside have also offered to help us replace stolen items from the station, as recently reported in the Bolton News, and are going to help us with a big station tidy up in the New Year.”

Stateside Foods has planned its next litter pick for early spring 2015.