Elderly man injured after tripping over discarded mattress

An elderly man cut his head open after tripping over a mattress which had been dumped in a Coventry street.



The incident happened in Ranby Road, Stoke, earlier this month.

Corey Woollett was cycling through the area when he saw the injured pensioner, thought to be in his 80s, lying in the gutter.

Mr Woollett said the elderly man had suffered a head injury and smashed his glasses after tripping over the mattress.

Mr Wollett said: “He must have been trying to get around the mattress when he fell.

“I phoned an ambulance. I think he was more worried about his glasses.”

He added: “There was blood all on the road.”

The Stoke resident said it’s not the first incident of fly-tipping he’s come across.

He added: “There’s a sofa in the garden in the road down there.

“You even see fridges just chucked into the street.

“I’ve phone the council but they’re still there.”

When the Telegraph visited the site a few days later, there was a mattress and bed springs on the pavement.

A local resident passing by said that they had been there for weeks.

A spokesperson from Coventry City Council said: “We are aware of some fly-tipping in the Ranby Road area.

“When members of the public report fly-tipped rubbish to us we investigate and remove it and we will be removing this mattress as soon as possible.”

The council said it will remove rubbish from council-owned land within five working days or one working day where an obstruction is caused or the abandoned rubbish is considered dangerous.

Flytipping is considered to be a serious offence and those caught may be prosecuted.

A fine for flytipping can be up to £50,000, and a jail sentence may be imposed.

It is also an offence to allow flytipping.

Homeowners must take reasonable measures to make sure their waste is disposed of correctly. Failure to do so could lead to a fine of up to £5,000.

Residents who spot flytipping can report it online here.

I believe this type of thing is going to get worse. I wonder just how long before the council up their rates for removing large items for the citizens?

Fly-tipping in Coventry rises by almost a quarter

Fly-tipping shot up more nearly a quarter in Coventry last year - but hardly anyone gets caught.

The city council dealt with 2,811 incidents of people illegally dumping rubbish last year - or an average of eight incidents every day.

This was up 23 per cent on the 2,287 it recorded the year before.

But despite the thousands of cases, there were just five prosecutions and four fixed penalty notices paid, suggesting the vast majority of fly-tippers escape prosecution or a small penalty.

Fly-tipping went up much more quickly in Coventry than it did in England as a whole, with incidents only rising by six per cent across the country.

A spokesman for the city council said: “In 2014/15 the city council dealt with 2,811 incidents of fly-tipping which was a 23 per cent increase on the year before.

“In Coventry over 65 per cent of fly-tipped waste is household related, in particular bulky household items. We therefore need residents help to tackle the problem.

“We would ask that residents only present waste for collection in their wheelie bins. Any excessive waste should be disposed of through the council’s bulk collection service or taken to the household recycling centre on London Road."

'It is getting ridiculous now' - Stoke fly-tippers dump enough furniture to 'furnish a small house'



A Coventry woman has blasted fly-tippers after enough furniture to furnish a small house was dumped on her street.

Marian Perkins says so much rubbish has been dumped in the area around Chandos Street, Stoke, recently that the council cannot clear it all in one go.

Marian, who has lived in the road for a decade, says there has been a massive increase in the amount of fly-tipping in the area in the last three years.

She said: “The rubbish spreads out along Chandos Street and even goes into Brighton Street. At one point we had enough to furnish a small house.

“There was a two seater sofa and an armchair on the corner of Chandos Street and Brighton Street.

“Further down Chandos Street there were two two seater sofas, a small fridge, a mattress and big boxes that had large flatscreen televisions in them.

“It is getting ridiculous now.

“It’s not just the fly-tipping that is the problem, but me and my neighbours even have people going through our bins and anything they pull out, they just leave on the floor.”

Marian said the problem has got so bad with people leaving their rubbish on the street that rats are now being spotted regularly.

She added: “We have rats here now because the dumping of rubbish is endless. It is just constant.

“Every morning we have people going through the bins.

“I just don’t know what to say or do anymore. It’s happening way too much and the council just can’t do enough.”

The problem isn’t just contained to those Stoke streets, with Marian also seeing similar problems in her local park.

Gosford Park is at the bottom of Walsgrave Road, just a two minute walk from Chandos Street, and also where Marian walks her dog every day.

She said she even clears rubbish up there.

Marian said: “The park is just horrendous. There are broke wine bottles everywhere and broken and crushed beer bottles and cans.

“I have resorted to taking a dustpan and brush with me and a black bag to sweep up all the bottles and cans.”

The council have now started a mass clean up operation, but there is so much rubbish, they weren’t able to take it all in one go.

Seems Coventry is becoming like areas of Manchester I ve recently seen this happening in nice areas here to which I ve never seen before.
Last year there was an old large wardrobe and 3 piece suit on the pavement in Paradise Street Foleshill .