Dog walker’s shock at fly-tipping finds

Fly tipping near the Forest Retail Park, in Thetford. (Image: Archant)

Resident Bernie O'Connor was out walking his pet near the Forest Retail Park on Monday morning when he spotted the large stack of detritus on a rear service road.

Mr O'Connor, who regularly walks near the retail park, said he had recently avoided the area after was occupied by a group of travellers.

'I love this town so much and it really annoys me,' he said.

'I walk my dog in the woodland, around the back of The Warrener hotel and then along by the factories.

Fly tipping near the Forest Retail Park, in Thetford. (Image: Archant)

'There were some travellers there last week and we couldn't get through. I dropped my wife off at work at 7am on Monday and thought I would try again.

'The travellers had gone but that is what they had left behind.

'I saw the care beds and thought, where did they come from? They are not the sort of thing you find lying about in the street.'

Barbara Bysouth, fly-tipping officer for Thetford, labelled the situation 'ridiculous'.

'I have put out a plea for anyone who has had any of the items which are there removed to be taken to the tip,' she added.

Fly-tipping is both a persistent and expensive problem for Thetford. A report released last year showed there had been 750 incidences of waste being dumped in the town in the past five years.

And according to the Forestry Commission, the problem in Thetford Forest alone is costing around £100,000 a year to tackle.

Breckland Council are responsible for clearing up fly-tipped materials on council- or publicly-owned land.

A spokeswoman for the district council said Thetford Town Council had contacted them about the rubbish near the retail park two weeks ago, but that the land was not owned by the district council.

Although the road where the items were dumped is used as a service road for Sainsbury's delivery vehicles, a spokesman for Sainsbury's said they believed the road was not owned by the company.