Illegal tyre dumping is a growing problem in Bradford - according to Bradford Council and The Environment Agency.

Chairman of Bradford Council's waste management sub-committee Councillor Keith Thompson said the Council was increasingly left to clear up after fly-tippers who dump tyres to avoid rising disposal costs.

And Council and Environment Agency officers report tyres are often found beside roads and on land in their hundreds.

Coun Thompson said: "Fly tipping costs us tens of thousands of pounds each year because we have to pay landfill charges for the waste other people dump.

"Waste tyres are a big problem. Large tyre dealers charge their customers a fee for disposing of their old tyres but some small garages get rid of them any way they can."

Coun Thompson said that since the introduction of landfill tax in 1995 it cost at least £20 to landfill a ton of waste.

On Monday Environment Agency officers found hundreds of waste tyres dumped on land in Filey Street near Leeds Road.

Stuart Jenkinson, Environment Agency enforcement team leader for West Yorkshire, said fly-tippers were increasingly brazen when dumping.

"It's getting worse - it's becoming common to find thousands of tyres dumped at a time," he said. "Tyres take years to break down and they're extremely toxic if burnt.

"It would help if garages took more of an interest in what happened to tyres when they give them to people to dispose of."

Bradford property developer Samykkurukkal Balakrishnan said he was left with 40,000 tyres to dispose of after a tenant stacked them in his Leeds Road warehouse.

Mr Balakrishnan, who plans to sue the tenant after a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency failed in January, said it would cost him £28,000 to dispose of the tyres.

Bradford Magistrates threw out the case, ruling the tyres were not waste and would be repaired or recycled.

Mr Balakrishnan said: "I'm stuck with them, they're jammed in here from floor to ceiling. If the building caught fire it would take days to put it out."

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