Broken tents, soiled clothes: the mess police found near Minions

A broken tent. A camping chair, snapped and left where it fell. Bags of food waste, and clothing nobody wanted back badly enough to carry it out with them. That is what officers found waiting for them at Golddiggings, a spot on Bodmin Moor near Minions, on a routine patrol this week.

📷Credit: Liskeard Police

What officers found at Golddiggings

Liskeard Police described it as another disappointing day on the moors. Officers visiting the site found cooking equipment left out in the open, which the team flagged as a fire risk. Around it lay a broken tent, a broken chair, bags of food, and clothing including soiled underwear, simply abandoned on the grass.

It is the kind of scene that has become familiar to the neighbourhood team covering this stretch of moorland, and it draws a simple, direct plea from the officers involved: take your rubbish, and your clothing, home with you.

📷Credit: Liskeard Police

Two drivers stopped after driving onto the moor

Alongside the litter, two drivers were dealt with for taking vehicles across the moor itself, which breaches section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, the offence of driving other than on a road. Only vehicles with specific authorisation are allowed onto the open moorland, and officers say both drivers had passed a no entry sign to get there.

📷Credit: Liskeard Police

Boulders placed to block access, but not stopping everyone

Working with landowners, police have already placed boulders across some of the points where vehicles have been getting onto the moor. It has not been enough. Officers say the barriers are “obviously not a deterrent” for everyone still finding a way round them, and this week’s visit is a sign the problem has not gone away.

The team is continuing to patrol the site and is asking anyone visiting Golddiggings, or anywhere else on the moor, to respect the countryside around them and take everything they brought with them back out again, rubbish, camping gear and all. Anyone who sees a vehicle heading off-road onto the moor is asked to report it to police.

📷Credit: Liskeard Police