A MOTHER of two got the shock of her life last week, when her 16-month-old daughter almost swallowed a potentially fatal dose of illegal drugs she found on the slides at Lion Green.

The local resident, and former police officer, did not wish to be named but said she was left physically shaken by the experience. She had taken her daughter to the playground last Wednesday afternoon.

"At the bottom of the slide she picked something up and went to put it in her mouth," the mother told The Herald. "It was a tiny, white drugs wrap, with three very small, white crystals that look like they had been burnt already."

A "wrap" is a small, folded piece of paper used to contain drugs such as "speed", a class A amphetamine.

Fortunately, the mother managed to stop her daughter just seconds before she swallowed the substance, but the outcome could easily have been much worse.

Immediately she contacted the police, but their response was surprising.

"It was after hours, so I got through to the Waverley switchboard, but at first they told to throw them away in the dustbin!" she said. "I told them that I was going to go to the newspaper about it and they called back to say not to put the drugs in the rubbish."

The mother was told that local beat officer Ralph Swindell would get in touch with her to discuss the incident. In the meantime, she was forced to keep the illegal substances in her house.

"They were in my home for two days," she said. "Admittedly it was not much, and it was up out of reach, but you don't want that kind of thing in your house."

In the wake of this potential tragedy, she has called for improved security measures at Lion Green.

"The state the playground is in, it's not safe for children," she said. "It's not just drugs, there is dog fouling as well."

Other mothers are also concerned about the busy Lion Lane that is still used as a rat -run despite extensive traffic-calming measures.

"I have two children and if I take them to Lion Green I have to keep an eye on one at the playground and watch the other so they don't run into the road," she explained. "It is a nightmare."

Although not a complete solution, the Haslemere mother of two feels that fencing off the facilities would be a step in the right direction.

"It won't stop people taking drugs, but it will improve safety," she said. "|'ve been told they can't fence it off because its common land but if it's delegated as a children's area I think it should be."

The local resident also feels that a fixed CCTV camera at the playground would help, and a more visible police presence, particularly late at night.

"There's Ralph Swindell but he covers the whole of Haslemere, and he's the only one I ever see," she said. "You see him a lot during the day, but not during the evenings."

"I certainly I won't walk to the Co-op late at night because of the gangs of youths that hang around - I find it quite intimidating," she added.

This incident is the latest in a long list of vandalism, anti-social behaviour and littering that has been going on at Lion Green in recent months. Last week, The Herald reported on a punch-up that took place between rival gangs outside Leighton's Opticians late at night.

Drugs paraphernalia has been found before, but it is more commonly associated with marijuana smoking than chemical substances such as speed.

Although this is the first time the local mother has found anything like this, she said the situation at Lion Green has been getting noticeably worse over the last nine months.

"There has always been an awful lot of cans and rubbish, but it has been far worse recently," she said.

"My concern is for children's safety; the consequences of something like this are horrific. They put all sorts of things in their mouths, but if my child fell ill I wouldn't have had a clue what was wrong."

Haslemere Town Council's latest initiative to improve the problem of anti-social behaviour is to provide "youth shelters" on the green, to give teenagers somewhere to congregate.

But the idea has not been universally applauded, and the young mother isn't convinced it's the right thing to do.

"You hear a lot about these shelters, but they've not engaged the youth; they've not asked what they want," she said. "I think there should be some kind of consultation, because if the young people don't want them it'll be throwing good money after bad."

A spokesman for the police said that the substance had been passed on to Surrey's divisional drugs liaison officer to try to identify it, and it will then be destroyed. It will not be sent away for forensic analysis, however, because it was not found with a suspect.

"We would always advise people to bring things like that in," the Surrey police spokesman added. "But to have it analysed would cost about £90. Unless we know it's been used in a crime it is difficult to justify the cost."

Waverley's new borough inspector, Matt Goodridge, said that the police were aware of the problems at Lion Green.

"We are well aware it's one of our hotspot areas. The CCTV camera is there at the moment," he said.

"It is also regularly patrolled by our response officers."