Fly-tippers leave rubbish on disabled man's driveway

[dutchman]

Neighbours in a quiet Coventry cul-de-sac were left furious when fly-tippers dumped half a dozen bags of rubbish on the driveway of a disabled man’s house.


Rose Cairns with a pile of rubbish which was fly-tipped on her neighbour's lawn

The residents of Horse Shoe Road, Longford, had no idea where the bags came from when they appeared on Thursday morning.

It was the latest in a spate of unsightly fly-tipping incidents in the neighbourhood.

One of the disabled man’s neighbours, Rose Cairns, kindly removed the rubbish, which was mainly food waste, from the driveway.

She was then left aghast after contacting Coventry City Council to come and collect the bags – only to be told that she would have to dispose of them herself because it was private property.

Rose said: “I lifted a total of eight bags of rubbish from the driveway of a neighbour’s house.

“I rang the council and they said they would not collect it as it was on private property and asked if could I take it to the tip myself.

“I’ve been away for a while on holiday and have been told that this has been happening in the area.

“It has happened by Hacketts funeral directors apparently and by the canal as well.”

The council later had a change of heart and workers turned up at Rose’s home to take away the rubbish later that day.

A spokesman for the council said: “While it is not the responsibility of the council to remove waste from private land, we did visit the property in Horse Shoe Road and have removed the waste that had been dumped there by someone else.”

It comes just weeks after the Telegraph reported how a boater who uses the Coventry Canal in Longford was regularly filling black bags full of rubbish dumped by other people.

One boater said the stretch near the Longford Engine pub was a particular hot spot for flytippers.

[dutchman]

Anger after flytippers dump fridge-freezers on Coventry church car-park



Flytippers dumped a pile of fridge freezers on a Coventry church car park on Valentine’s Day.

Church leaders at Keresley United Reformed Church in Bennetts Road found the huge pile of white goods dumped by the side of their building - taking up their only car parking spaces.

Because the church occupies private land it is their responsibility to have the fridge freezers removed.

Now church leaders are worried about how their small congregation will be able to afford the cost of removing them.

George Jones, a lay preacher at the church, said: “It seems unfair that we have been left to sort someone else’s stuff out.”

Mr Jones has spoken with a local tip who would take appliances, but only if they could transport them to the site and prove that they are a registered charity.

The United Reformed Church is a registered charity nationally, so proving that wouldn’t be a problem, but shifting the huge number of appliances could be tricky - and costly.
Read More Fly-tipping in Coventry rises by almost a quarter - but few fly-tippers get caught

Mr Jones said that the fly-tipping could be the start of the problem if something isn’t done quickly.

Mr Jones said: “If we just leave it then it could attract more people to leave their rubbish.

“More widely it’s a really concerning problem that someone will have to grapple with.

“This is something that is likely to start affecting a lot of people.”

Coventry City Council said their environmental protection team would be in contact with the church.

When flytippers dump bulky waste on council land the authority aim to move the waste in five days.

The council advise on their website that residents can dispose of bulky household waste by hiring a skip or taking them to a refuse centre themselves.

Alternatively, the council will collect white goods for a small fee.