A Great Horton man has hit out at litter louts after being landed with a bill for £1,500 to clear mess from his land.

Michael Delaney, of Great Horton Road, says a patch of land near his home is a persistent target for fly tippers who leave rubbish and junk - including three-piece suites - under cover of darkness.

At first, he says, he used to get contractors in to clear the mess - but eventually it got so bad that he was served with an order by environmental health officers from Bradford Council.

He was ordered to appear in court as he was the responsible landowner, but lost the letter informing him of the date of his court hearing.

As a result he was left with fines and costs totalling £1,552 and he is furious because he says the problem is down to local litter louts - not him.

"They arrived at the bill because they had five men on to clear the rubbish, at £20 an hour each," he said.

"The tipping is not being done by people from different towns, it's people from around here in Bradford, tipping it over the wall overnight. I caught a man tipping a bed over one night. I stopped him, but when I got up in the morning he had obviously come back because it was there."

A spokesman for Bradford Council said Council environmental health officers had taken action after a complaint from a member of the public.

"Since January 1996 environmental protection officers have served three notices on Mr Delaney, asking him to clear his land,'' he said.

"However, he has failed to comply with these, and officers were left with no option but to arrange for the site to be cleared on public health grounds.

"The bill he has received covers the actual costs of clearing the site on the three occasions when the Council was forced to take action."

Councillor John Godward (Labour, Great Horton) said fly tipping was a significant problem at several sites around the Great Horton area. People caught doing it could be prosecuted by the landowner and this could take place if people spotted vehicles and made a note of their registration numbers.

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