MORE than 40 fly-tippers are set to get a late festive delivery through their letterboxes after evidence they had illegally dumped rubbish in Barrow was uncovered.

A team of around 16 binmen, road sweepers and enforcement officers faced the unenviable task of sifting through and clearing tonnes of discarded household waste yesterday.

Recycling sites at the Park Leisure Centre, Tesco Extra in Hindpool Road, Tesco Metro in Flass Lane, Asda in Walney Road and Morrisons in The Strand were left littered with mountains of bags, boxes, leftover turkey and other Christmas dinner favourites after impatient residents refused to wait just two days to dispose of their rubbish correctly.

Council bosses yesterday waged war on the litter louts and vowed to bring to justice those who had turned parts of the town into makeshift landfill sites.

Led by Barrow Borough Council's streetcare manager, Alan Barker, the clean-up crusaders have so far managed to gather enough evidence to track down 41 of those believed to be responsible.

Although the vast majority of those who have been identified live in Barrow, evidence suggests some had travelled from Leece and Gleaston.


Alan Barker "A lot have clearly tried to hide their identities by ripping the corners off envelopes but they've then put the torn corners in the same binbag," Mr Barker said.

"The enforcement officers and myself have been sifting through the rubbish to collect anything which could help to identify the people who have done this.

"From just three sites so far; Morrisons, the leisure centre and Tesco Extra, we now have a list of 41 individuals who will be interviewed under caution.

"We'll be processing the cases and they will receive their letters inviting them to explain themselves by the end of next week."

Although a large proportion of the rubbish was made up of recyclables, it will have to be sent to landfill as contaminated material because it has been dumped among turkey carcasses, food waste and even items such as house guttering.

"That's the saddest part of it," said Mr Barker, who has headed up the streetcare team for 26 years.

"Such a large amount could have been recycled but now it can't be, and it annoys you so much. The tip is only closed for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day and revised wheelie bin collections have been published well in advance.

"We did put larger containers out at these sites but people have clearly ignored the signs asking them not to leave litter if the bins are full."

Nine binmen, two street sweeper operatives and four workers in pick-up trucks were out at first light yesterday to clear the sites.

Amazingly, they had been restored to their normal condition within just a few hours but the additional work meant wheelie bins in Dalton and Askam will have been collected much later than usual.

Latest official figures show that around 98 per cent of fly-tippers are eventually prosecuted.

If convicted, they face an unlimited fine and a maximum of five years in prison although the vast majority of offences are dealt with by way of a fixed penalty or a fine between £150 and £500 in the magistrates' court.

The increased workload for Barrow binmen will not mean any additional expense for the council but the Evening Mail understands that extra measures will be taken next year to prevent fly-tipping and covertly catch criminals in the act.

Mr Barker added: "It won't be tolerated and we will take action against anyone found to be responsible."

Anyone who has evidence or information about fly-tipping can email streetscene@barrowbc.gov.uk to pass the details onto Barrow Borough Council.