A shocked Warwick Bridge homeowner was unable to leave her home after criminals dumped tonnes of processed waste in her driveway.
Janet Atkins who lives near the A69 woke on Thursday, August 17 to discover tonnes of waste in her drive leaving her unable to move her car and go to work.
The environment agency has launched a criminal investigation into the incident and are searching for any information, including dashcam footage, that may lead to the arrest of the culprits.
Since last Thursday, a small gap was cleared to allow Janet to get her car out but the piles of rubbish, which contains items such as nappies, remains on her driveway.
After initially calling the police who said that they didn’t deal with fly-tipping, Janet was put in touch with Cumberland Council who said that as the property was on the A69 between Warwick Bridge and Brampton, the problem lay at the feet of Road Link who are a private firm who manage the A69.
After a back and forth with various departments, it transpired that Road Link subcontract certain issues back to Northumberland County Council.
A consultation between Janet and Northumberland County Council is now underway about the removal of the waste but Janet is expected to pay 25 per cent of the total removal cost which, in total, could reach into the tens of thousands of pounds.
“The whole situation is just ludicrous and has dominated my life for the last week,” said Janet.
“It’s such a shocking local news event and I think that local people need to know the details because the police won't get involved and suppose somebody goes next week and does exactly the same in Cumwhinton.
“Folks have told me that fly tipping is standard covered under your home insurance and I have notified my insurance company, but obviously this is fly tipping off the scale.
“This could bump up my home insurance premium. It could even result in home insurers now and in the future, once it renews, refusing to cover this risk because this has happened – it’s such a big worry and stress for me.
“We don't want the criminals to think nobody takes any notice when they do it.
“We want them to know that we're all on it, that we're disgusted and we're going to be looking out and keeping an eye.”
Janet is now parking her car at a nearby neighbour’s house and workmen are set to clear the rubbish from the drive to allow better access, but the rubbish will not be cleared totally until Tuesday, August 29 at the earliest.
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Janet’s neighbour was also concerned about the safety of the rubbish. “Suppose Janet needed an ambulance,” she said, “or if there was a fire on the property. There would be no way of getting an emergency vehicle there. It’s unsafe and just shocking.”
Ben Dobson, National Highways Route Manager for the A69, said: “We, and our contractor, Road Link, are aware of the large-scale illegal waste disposal incident that occurred on a layby on the A69 between Corby Hill and Brampton in the early hours of Thursday 17 August.
"We have been working with the Environment Agency which is the regulatory body responsible for investigating such incidents. The agency has inspected the site for any evidence to identify the perpetrators of this crime.
“The legal responsibility for removing and disposing of fly-tipped waste materials rests with the landowner upon whose land the waste has been illegally deposited. In this instance, the waste has been dumped along a private access site as well as on a layby which forms part of the A69.
“As soon as the resident got in touch with us, arrangements were immediately made to clear an access route to and from her property.
"The Environment Agency also needed to carry out its inspections, and check the waste was not hazardous, before we could arrange for it to be cleared.
“Now that the agency has concluded its investigations, arrangements are being made via Road Link for the safe removal and legal disposal of the fly-tipped waste from the A69 layby and the adjoining landowner’s property, and we’re in contact with the resident to arrange for this to cleared as quickly and effectively as possible.”
Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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