A PILE of rubbish and unwanted goods were dumped on a city road this morning – the day that experts had warned could be the worst of the year for fly-tipping.

A sofa, wardrobe, mattress and headboard are among the items piled up in Warndon Lane, Worcester, apparently dumped early on Friday.

Waste clearance service Junk Hunters Ltd had warned earlier in the week that the first Friday of this month is known in the industry as Fly-tipping Friday.

With households looking to discard Christmas waste and packaging, as well as the added confusion due to irregular bin collections – the temptation to fly-tip can be even greater.

Harsha Rathnayake, CEO of Junk Hunters, said: “Coupled with the late or reduced council collection services, it can get very stressful and people may be tempted to take their rubbish and just dump it somewhere quiet – but they really, really mustn’t.

“Fly tipping is illegal for a reason – it’s dangerous, unsightly, terrible for the environment and it costs councils tens of millions of pounds a year to clean up and they’re cash-strapped enough already.”

In relation to the waste dumped on Warndon Lane, a Worcester City Council spokesperson said on Friday:  “We are aware of the significant amount of fly tipping left in this area.  We are in the process of clearing it; some was removed today and the remainder will be cleared early next week.”

Earlier this week, the council took the opportunity to warn residents they will be prosecuted if caught in the act.

A city council spokesperson said: “Fly-tipping is a criminal act; people caught illegally dumping waste can be fined up to £50,000 or face five years in prison.

“We will investigate all incidents of fly-tipping and prosecute offenders, where sufficient evidence is available.”

According to the latest government figures, from 2016-17 there were over a million fly-tipping incidents throughout England.

This led to a total clearance cost of over £57.5 million but offenders were also fined a total of nearly £723,000.

If members of the public spot someone fly-tipping, WCC has urged them to take down as many relevant details as possible, including vehicle registrations.

You can report incidents of fly-tipping at worcester.gov.uk/report-it or by calling 01905 722233.