Wisbech teacher Tim Chapman is doing his bit for the environment and raising awareness of the dangers of Nitrous Oxide

A retired Wisbech teacher has been doing his bit for the environment and road safety collecting discarded nitrous oxide canisters littering our verges.

In just under three months Tim Chapman, has collected 300 of the larger 1.4kg canisters spotted during his daily cycle rides around Fenland and West Norfolk.

He also collects the smaller, silver canisters when he comes across them usually in lay-bys, T-junctions, and other pull-offs around the countryside.

On one occasion Tim said he picked up 300 of the smaller canisters in a spot in Coldham.

Tim, 60, said he was fed up with seeing them and was worried about the dangers they posed to road users and possibly youngsters if they were to come across them and pick them up.

“Each of these canisters is made of steel and weighs 1.4kg, which means in just under three months I have picked up a third of a tonne,” said Tim, who lived in Wisbech for 30-plus years before moving to King’s Lynn.

Many of the canisters still contain some of the gas. Tim dismantles them to make them safe, as they are highly pressurised.

“Until they are depressurised, they remain dangerous items and I recommend members of the public do not handle them unless they are sure of what to do,” said Tim, who still teaches one day a week, but is also a photographer.

Despite living in King’s Lynn Tim’s cycle rides regularly bring him to Wisbech and sometimes March.

He said: “I try to cycle as much as I can to do my bit for the environment. I tend to cycle from Lynn to Wisbech going through the Wiggenhalls, and Walpoles along the way, and regularly spot the canisters discarded on the verges, so I decided to do something about it.

“If I spot a lone one then I will pick it up and put it in my rucksack, but if there are a few then I will collect them in my car. I don’t make special journeys I just tweak my routes by a mile or two so I can collect them along the way.

“I once picked up 17 in one go from a spot some where along Roman Bank.”

The big canisters are around £20 each to buy, but are usually sold in boxes of six. The gas provides a very short high, and is usually inhaled in cars which is why the canisters are left littering roadsides, and open spaces.

It is illegal to use nitrous oxide, which is also known as laughing gas, in this way but has become fashionable with young people, which was why it was banned for recreational purposes in 2023 and is now a Class C drug.

Anyone caught with nitrous oxide for unlawful use faces a caution, community service or an unlimited fine, while repeat offenders could find themselves behind bars.

There are stiffer penalties for those involved in the production or supply of the drug for unlawful purposes with prison terms of up to 14 years.

Nitrous oxide can be bought legally as it is often used in baking in the preparation of whipped cream and merengues. Also, many professionals often use it to prepare Belgian waffles and for pancakes, because it makes the dough more aerated.

But Tim said they are too easy to buy for illegal use as there are no real checks and points out that the names on the sides of some of the canisters, which include ‘Miami Magic’, ‘Black Cobra’ and ‘Bozer’ suggest they are not aimed at the catering market, and is aimed at glamorising their misuse.

He also wants to raise awareness of the dangerous side effects that can result from using the drug.

These include: low blood pressure, fainting, heart attack, long-term paralysis, and even sudden death.

Tim said he has even seen someone openly inhaling the drug walking along a street in Wisbech.

“I was in St Peter's car park and I saw this chap carrying a pink balloon, inhaling and almost dancing, he was absolutely carefree and doing it there in the street,” he said.

“I don’t know what the solution is, clearly the law needs to be enforced, as for them being left littering the countryside perhaps a deposit scheme on the canister that you get back when you return it empty might help,” said Tim.

He is planning to sell the canisters he has collected for scrap, not only are they made from steel, but the valves are brass, and use the cash to pay for the equipment he has bought to help with dismantling the canisters.