A crackdown on flytippers is being demanded after a 13-year-old girl was taken to hospital after a riding accident caused by a dumped mattress.

A crackdown on flytippers is being demanded after a 13-year-old girl was taken to hospital after a riding accident caused by a dumped mattress.

Zoe Myhill spent 10 days in the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and will be off school for at least another three weeks with bruised kidneys, a ruptured spleen and a blood clot.

The Litcham High School pupil, who lives at Longham, near Dereham, was flung from her horse when she had to stop suddenly to avoid a dumped mattress while cantering through a field outside the village of Gressenhall.

Her mother Nikki, who was riding with Zoe at the time, is appealing for people to stop dumping and for firm action to be taken to stop anybody else being hurt.

She said: “I was so worried about her, as soon as she came off the horse she was sick because of the pain.

“She has just got back from hospital and is not allowed to do anything physical until she has another scan on April 16.

“I am very angry about what happened and disgusted that someone would do this, flytipping is so unnecessary and people need to realise that it can have very serious consequences.

“I want something to be done to stop this happening to anybody else, it could be far more serious next time.”

Zoe said: “It could have been much worse and I want to tell people not to flytip.”

Breckland Council recently brought in an ex-policeman as an enforcement officer to stop flytippers and is rolling out a scheme to give people easy access to community rangers, aswell as setting up covert cameras to catch people dumping rubbish.

A spokesman for Breckland Council said the council had removed the mattress the day after it was notified and that it cleaned up 91pc of fly tipping sites within 24-hours of them being reported.

She said: “Fly-tipping is illegal and dangerous. Breckland Council was extremely saddened to hear that a young girl had been injured by this criminal act.

“Mattresses can be taken free of charge to Norfolk County Council tips and Breckland Council provides a collection service. We will pick up three items for only £20.

“We encourage others to think not only about the damage fly-tipping does to the environment but also how their actions endanger the lives of people and animals.”