The men who volunteered to clear huge piles of fly-tipped rubbish for free

Two South Bristol waste clearance specialists had a bit of a busman's holiday today - and gave up their Saturday to clear waste from a notorious flytipping spot for free.

Rob Dark and Chris Winters said they were fed up with seeing loads of rubbish dumped on the country lanes between South Bristol and Keynsham, and so decided to do something about it themselves.

So on Saturday morning, in the pouring rain, the pair got stuck into the rubbish, and said they wanted to issue a warning to people not to use cheap waste companies - because they probably haven't got a licence, and will just dump the rubbish.

Rob runs Get It Gone waste management company from Keynsham, while boxing coach Chris 'Skemer' Winters, from Knowle West, has his own waste clearance firm that's probably the only one in the country with a poo emoji in its name.

"I just got fed up going past it every day," said Rob, as he cleared the rubbish from Woollard Lane, the North East Somerset side of Whitchurch.

"It's been there on the side of the road for a month or more. The council said they wouldn't clear it because it was technically on private land, so I decided to clear it up myself because with the lockdown it's quite quiet at the moment with work," he added.

The two men, who are both officially-registered waste clearance carriers, said that if fly-tipping is left too long, it ends up attracting more. "There has been a lot of fly tipping in the country lanes around Keynsham, Whitchurch and Stockwood recently. This was all general household waste and black bags," said Rob.

"What has happened is someone has paid someone to take their rubbish away, but they aren't registered and they've just dumped it.

Rob Dark and Skemer Winters and their team on Whitchurch Lane cleaning up loads of rubbish that has been dumped but not picked up by the council. (John Myers)

"If someone knocks on your door offering waste removal and quotes you a price which seems too good to be true, don't trust them - because nine times out of ten, it will end up being flytipped - and you could end up with a big fine," added Skemer.

"People should always ask for paperwork and licences, and go to a reputable licensed waste carrier."

The pair's efforts to clean up South Bristol will continue next week, they promised - by clearing the rubbish from near Brislington FC.