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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Kelly-Ann Mills

Elderly couple come home to find flytippers have dumped over 80 tyres on their driveway

Brazen flytippers have dumped more than 80 tyres on an elderly couple's driveway and the council are refusing to pay for them to be removed.

Hugh Cunningham and his wife Diane were left "angry and astonished" after returning home from visiting friends on Saturday evening to find the mess.

But Canterbury City Council is refusing to remove the dumped load as it's on private land at the couple's home in Upper Harbledown, near Canterbury, Kent.

They now face a hefty bill to get rid of the mountain of tyres with Mr Cunningham, 81, saying he was "shocked at how many there was".

He added: "At first I thought there were about 20, however we soon saw there were many more.

"I haven't counted them all exactly, but I think there could be about 80. I was angry and astonished when I saw it."

The Cunninghams were out when the tyres were dumped (KMG / SWNS.COM)

He added: "I was upset - I just thought 'how can someone do that?' How degrading of the environment.

"It's a blemish on the land. I hope they never do this again and don't do this to anybody else."

The tyres, which were dumped between 7pm and midnight, lie in front of the Cunninghams' rear drive, with the pair adding it has created "a huge inconvenience".

Mrs Cunningham, 76, who has lived in the village for 42 years, said: "It's upsetting, very annoying, a real hassle and will be very expensive to move."

The couple wants the tyres gone (KMG / SWNS.COM)

She said: "It's all different kinds, we see refrigerators, building supplies, and also just people with Costa cups and bags who obviously just chuck them out the window."

The couple have been told teams from the city council are due to come and assess the situation today.

Local authority spokesman Rob Davies said: "We are aware of this incident and our enforcement officers will be visiting the site to investigate, including checking for any local CCTV and speaking to residents about any information they may have.

"As this is private land, it is for the owner to clear what has been dumped.

"We will actively pursue any evidence we find and prosecute if we possibly can, and in one recent successful court case, we were able to secure £500 in compensation for a landowner who was the victim of a fly-tipping incident."

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