SOLID STEEL COFFIN

Drug addicts use wreck of trashed car as shooting gallery

AN abandoned car in Newcastle's East End has been turned into a
shooting gallery for drug users.

A man was found dead in the trashed car recently, the victim of a
suspected overdose.

Angry residents told yesterday how the activities in the Holden Camira
sedan had made their lives hell.

They said drug addicts attracted to the area kept them awake at
night.

The car was dumped on a private block, next to Kiwi Waffle 'N Cones,
in Zaara St, in September and has since been home to numerous people.

"It's just disgusting," East End resident Judy Laycock
said.

"One one night a group of guys completely trashed it, smashing glass
and almost destroying it."

"We picked up seven syringes on New Year's Day."

Justin Griffiths who lives next door to the vacant block, said people
were using the abandoned car at night to inject drugs, vandalise it
and drink alcohol.

All the windows in the car have been smashed, its wheels removed and a
metal stake forced through the bonnet.

Syringes, empty cartons of beer, food wrappers and clothes are in and
around the car.

A television, which was thrown through the windscreen last week by
teenagers, sits on the passenger seat.

Mr Griffiths said police had been called to the block several times
but because the car was on private property it was not their
responsibility to remove it.

Police had taken the number plates.

A resident who did not want to be named said a man died of a suspected
overdose a few weeks ago.

Police investigations are continuing.

"Every day it's something different," the resident
said.

"Kids play in the area and they could easily step on a
needle."

"It's a real concern."

The incident highlighted the need for needle disposal
bins.

Mrs Laycock said the car had become an attraction to
passersby.

"It's a big drawcard to kids," she said.

"It's just become a rubbish dump."

"During the first few weeks it was there, I'd see heaps of people
stopping and taking parts from it."

"There's virtually nothing left of it now."

Mrs Laycock hoped a residential development planned for the site would
begin shortly and alleviate the problem.