Plastic toys given away free in boxes of cereal more than 60 years ago are washing up British beaches.

A blue cowboy found at Watergate Bay in Cornwall was a free gift inside packets of Sugar Puffs in 1957.

A Cossack soldier from the same year was found on Whitsand Bay in Cornwall and a football spinning top given away with Kellogg’s cornflakes in 1958 washed up on a beach nearby this summer.

Tracey Williams, from Newquay, who found the toys, has been picking up plastic on the Cornish coast since

a container spill dumped millions of Lego pieces into the sea in 1997.

She said: “As children we would hunt for shells, sea grass and mermaid’s purses but now the amount of plastic is overwhelming.

"Cheap plastic seaside toys are another big problem. One year we picked up 200 lost, forgotten and discarded items from one beach.”

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Louise Edge, head of Greenpeace UK’s ocean plastics campaign, said: “We urge businesses to think of future generations and to at least halve their plastic footprint by 2025.”

Louise Edge, head of Greenpeace UK’s ocean plastics campaign, said the toy's arrival on the beach should act as a warning.

“These plastic toys washing up more than 60 years after they were distributed serve as a stark reminder that the decisions big corporates make now will have an impact for decades to come," she said.

“In the 1950s we didn’t know what a damaging impact plastic would have on our planet.

"But now we know that plastic production contributes to our climate emergency, and plastic pollution like this chokes our oceans and harms wildlife.

“We urge businesses to think of future generations and to at least halve their plastic footprint by 2025.”