Fly-tipping has for years been a problem in Bradford, as in many other urban areas. It is unsightly. It is also very dangerous, given the tendency among some young people to set fire to anything combustible that has been left lying around.

It is staggering to learn that in the past 12 months firefighters have been called out to 2,400 rubbish fires across the city. That has tied up resources for a large amount of time and risked causing delays in dealing with more serious incidents.

Fortunately none of these blazes is recorded as having caused any injury, but as Community Fire Safety Assistant Divisional Officer Keith Robinson points out, it could be only a matter of time before a torched pile of furniture is found to contain an occupied child's den.

Yet Bradford Council offers a bulk collection service and will remove up to five large items such as sofas or ten bin bags free of charge in due course. There is no excuse for dumping such items in lay-bys or on waste ground.

The answer to this would seem to be a three-pronged assault on the problem. Law-abiding citizens must resist the temptation to be impatient and by-pass the collection service. They must also keep a careful eye open for fly-tippers and be prepared to report them to the authorities.

And the Council, for its part, needs to try to be rather speedier in responding to complaints and clearing away eyesores such as the rubbish dumped in Kershaw Street, Bradford Moor, which residents claim was not removed despite repeated calls to the cleansing department.