A retired roofer who had car tyres dumped on his driveway has claimed he was accused of fly tipping and threatened with court action during the row with Ipswich Borough Council (IBC).
Gary Coote, 63, of Camberley Road, returned home from holiday on Sunday to discover five car tyres had been wedged between his skip in his front garden and the pavement.
He moved the tyres onto the pavement today so his skip could be taken away.
But when IBC officials turned up they warned leaving the tyres there would amount to fly-tipping – which can lead to a £400 on-the-spot fine or court action – and refused to take them away, he said.
Mr Coote received help to put them back on his driveway.
“It’s ridiculous,” Mr Coote said. “Someone has come along and dumped some tyres in my garden. They were leaning on the skip at the front, partly on the pavement.
“I had to move the tyres off the skip so I could get the skip out.
“But after speaking to them [IBC], they said that if I leave them on the path, I will get summoned for fly tipping.
“I am disgusted. They had the van there. They ought to have taken them.”
Mr Coote, who suffered a stroke nine years ago and has diabetes, said it will cost up to £100 to remove the tyres.
“It will cost £20 each in a skip,” he said. “To take them to the dump, you need a hazardous waste licence, which costs about £100.
“I’ve got to find a home for them now, and I need to pay for someone else’s fly tipping. I’m so angry.”
Neighbour Rodney Lawrence, 63, said Mr Coote had been “penalised for being honest”.
He said: “I don’t think the council have approached it in the right way. To turn round and threaten a gentleman in early retirement with fly-tipping is draconian, I think.
“He could have lied and said he found them on the pavement. They would have taken them straight away, for free. But being honest has gone against him. They have said it’s your property, your fault, your problem, you solve it.”
An IBC spokesman said: “While we sympathise with Mr Coote, householders are responsible for the correct disposal of any rubbish or refuse from their property, wherever this has come from. We have advised him that he needs to remove the tyres he removed from his garden and placed onto the pavement, as this is fly-tipping.”
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