Richard Wilson launched the Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign

Richard Wilson, who played Victor Meldrew, is promoting a new advertising campaign and hotline to stop rubbish being dumped in the countryside.

Illegal dumping costs Scottish council tax payers �11m and the average farmer �1,000 a year, according to figures released by Keep Scotland Beautiful.

Deputy Environment Minister Allan Wilson urged people to report offences.

With dumpers facing fines of up to �20,000, he said: "The launch of the Stop Line means that everyone in Scotland can take action to help us rid their community of fly-tipping."

Communities Minister Margaret Curran added: "Fly-tipping scars communities, harms the environment and will not be tolerated."

Extent 'unknown'

Carol McGinnes, fly-tipping officer with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), said: "The full extent of illegal dumping in Scotland is still unknown.

"Sepa has powers to investigate dumped sites and take enforcement action against anyone caught.

"This has been difficult to do, as evidence to determine who dumped the waste is difficult to find.

"Establishing a single national number for reporting information is a positive step forward, allowing information collected to be passed to the relevant authority for investigation."

The Scottish Fly-tipping Forum brings together organisations affected by illegal dumping.

Anyone with information on fly-tipping can contact the hotline on 0845 2 30 40 90.