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Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Kristian Johnson

Disgusting pictures show rubbish dumped on Leeds road over Christmas

Brazen fly-tippers left a sofa, a vacuum cleaner and several bags of rubbish on a grass verge in a north Leeds beauty spot on Christmas Eve.

The massive haul of litter was dumped next to Gledhow Valley Road, Leeds - and by Christmas Day it had been kicked across the road itself, causing a major traffic hazard to people travelling along the route.

The shameful act has been described as "awful", "dreadful" and "disgusting" by a number of people in the Chapel Allerton Chat Facebook group.

Doreen Ward, 74, is a member of Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods and regularly picks up litter in the local area to keep the woodland tidy.

"I was thinking that I needed a Boxing Day walk so I thought I might as well take the litter pickers with me," she told LeedsLive.

When she stumbled across the huge mounds of rubbish, she contacted Leeds City Council to let them know - and was left pleasantly surprised by their fast response.

She said: "It looked as though people had shoved it onto the road, so I called the police and the council to let them know because it was clearly a hazard to traffic.

"The council came along on Boxing Day and cleared it. I think that's incredible.

"The council get rubbished a lot, but they are incredibly short of money.

"It meant a great deal that they were willing to come out on Boxing Day."

She also told LeedsLive that she often spots piles of rubbish at the side of the road, although new CCTV cameras have been installed in the area in a bid to deter fly-tippers.

Nearby Harehills is by far and away the worst area of Leeds for the number of recorded fly-tipping incidents.

There were more than 15,000 incidents in 2017 and 2018 alone, which contributed to Leeds being named the fly-tipping capital of the UK, with 32,411 incidents of fly-tipping in the city in 2018/19 – or 89 every day. No other local authority in England dealt with so many incidents.

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: "We take waste crime extremely seriously, which is reflected in our strong track record of prosecuting criminals and seizing assets of those who continue to handle and dump waste illegally and for profit."

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