AN eight-year-old girl was rushed to the A&E department at James Paget University Hospital after she fell on a dirty syringe on Great Yarmouth beach.

Sophie Wilson had been playing in the water with her sisters Amy, five, and Mia, four, but tripped as she ran across sand dunes close to the Waterways, landing on the two-inch needle which caught the thumb on her left hand.

Although the needle, which had a plastic compartment on the other end, did not draw blood, her mother Gail, 37, rushed her to hospital for a check-up and may have to arrange blood tests to ensure Sophie has not picked up HIV or hepatitis B.

Ms Wilson, of Maygrove Road, Yarmouth, called on the borough council to clean the area around the dunes more thoroughly to prevent more children being at risk while walking on the beach.

She said: “As they were running back, she tripped and the next thing she said was ‘look mummy what has pricked my finger’ and ‘a dirty needle has pricked my hand’.”

She added: “Now everytime she gets a cough or cold I am going to think has she picked up something from that needle?”

Ms Wilson said she reported the incident, on February 25, to the borough council shortly after it had happened and was told it would be referred to the environmental health team. However, when she phoned the team three days later, she was told there was no log of her call and somebody would call her back, but nobody did.

“I understand they can’t go along and pick up every single thing off the beach, but the fact I have reported it and nothing has been done about it shows the council’s not looking to take your report seriously,” Ms Wilson said.

The family had visited the vets with their dogs, including cocker spaniel Brandy, eight months, Westie Lily, seven and Jack Russell Sally, three, and were returning home when St Nicholas Priory School pupil Sophie fell.

Nobody from the borough council was available for comment.