It is a tell-tale sign of hard drug use - pieces of charred foil on which heroin has been “cooked up” before it is inhaled or tipped into a syringe.

This foil was found on the baby changer in the public toilets in Tower Way, Canterbury, on Sunday afternoon.

The toilets are the closest conveniences to the Westgate Gardens, which were full of people enjoying the summer sunshine.

Mum Lauren Abbott, 29, from Sittingbourne, said: “I had been shopping with my one-year-old son, my husband and my mum in the city centre and decided to have a picnic in the Westgate Gardens.

“It was a beautiful afternoon and the gardens were packed with people enjoying themselves including young families and tourists.

“When I needed the loo and the baby needed a clean nappy, I found the nearest toilets in Tower Way.

“I was disgusted to find the baby changing table was home to burnt bits of foil of the sort used by drug users.

“There were also burnt bits of foil all over the toilet floor.

“The baby changing table was full of burn marks. How could I change my baby there?

“As I left the toilets, a group of elderly tourists were heading towards them. What must they have thought?”

In April 2010, it was revealed junkies were hiding syringes in the baby-changer in the Tower Way toilets.

Two men with histories of heroin abuse have been found dead in public toilets in Canterbury.

Larissa Laing, the council’s head of neighbourhood services, described drug abuse in public toilets as common and a “sad reflection on modern life”.

She added: “In the city centre toilets, we provide special bins for needles to n Call Serco on 0800 031 9091 to report a needle in a public place.