'Absolutely horrendous litter is harming our town'
Families have been left fed up with piles of "absolutely horrendous" litter dumped in a Merseyside town, with bedroom furniture, tyres and even baths left abandoned in the streets.
Video of the fly-tipping in Bootle, shared by councillor Peter Harvey, shows the extend of waste dumped on St Johns Road, with one pile reaching almost 6ft (1.8m) deep.
Mike Brennan, chairman of the clean-up team Bootle Action Group said: "Why should Bootle be a dumping ground?"
In response, Sefton Council said it had raised fines for fly-tipping from £400 to £1,000 - the highest amount for this kind of offence in the country.
John Madden, a council street cleaner said some items left on the side of the road were so heavy his team can't even left them off the ground.
"We've got bedroom units, a bath, toilet systems, loads of bin bags and car parts, we've got a full mixture", he said.
Brennan said the extent of fly-tipping in the area has risen.
"This is absolutely horrendous and it is beyond the remit of what our volunteers are willing to touch, this is fly tipping on an industrial scale.
"We try and make our area better then this happens."
He said this sort of offence has knock-on effects, bringing down house prices and increasing the likelihood of rodents.
"None of us want that, we just want to live in a nice clean area, people are just absolutely fed up.
"Bootle has this bizarre negative perception already and this just adds fuel to the fire."
He said St Johns Road has been a "hot spot" for fly-tipping for the best part of eight years.
Despite the council raising their fixed penalty notice's for fly-tipping, Brennan said he thinks more can be done.
"The council say they're tackling this but we're not really seeing that, I just do hope they take action," he said.
He said he would like to see cameras set up in problem areas to help deter offenders.
"I can't see why that's an issue, we know it would work," he said.
He said the packaging on several pieces of rubbish left in Bootle was found to have addresses from outside the town - indicated people were coming from elsewhere to dump their waste.
Harvey said the area had become a "grot spot" for fly-tippers, who he suspected are being paid legitimately by those wishing to dispose of their waste.
He said those people should expect a knock on the door and a "hefty fine" as they're liable for the rubbish that is dumped, despite them not disposing of it themselves.
"This isn't one or two incidents of fly-tipping, this is exceptional in terms of scale," he said.
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