Fury at Inverclyde fly-tippers

Lorryloads of rubbish have had to be taken away from a road near the Finlaystone Estate, which is owned and operated by the MacMillan family.

They say they regularly clean up the roadside and fields next to Finlaystone Road between Kilmacolm and the estate, but told the Tele this year it has been worse than ever.

Alastair MacMillan hit out at those who illegally dump tyres, mattresses, large chairs and all sorts of household junk.

He said: “We normally do a full clean-up of the road once a year before Easter, taking two trucks full of stuff to the Pottery Street depot.

“But, in the three weeks before Christmas,we have taken a further two truckfuls to the recycling centre.

“And even more stuff has been dumped since then on other nearby roads.”

Mr MacMillan, who is managing director of White House Products in Port Glasgow, said he suspected the illegal dumping was being done by someone who is clearing out people’s houses, probably for a fee, but is not prepared to pay the council to take it to Pottery Street.

He said: “Why do people seek to despoil the countryside with their junk?

“Why do they think that we should want to live surrounded by it?”

This latest incident follows a series of brazen fly-tipping episodes around Inverclyde, including most recently at land off Drumfrochar Road, where a mountain of furniture was dumped from a van on Sunday morning.

Inverclyde Council has repeatedly condemned fly-tippers, and says the scourge is particularly galling when Inverclyde people are among the best in the country at recycling. A spokesperson said: “Unless the owner can be traced or the landowner pays for the clean-up, the cost of flytipping often falls on the council.

“This is a waste of money and means teams are getting diverted from other essential work.

“We would urge anyone with any information about who is responsible for fly-tipping to report it.

“They can use the national dumb dumpers ‘stop line’ on 0845 2304090.”