FLY-tippers who dumped dangerous waste on the former north Denes caravan site in Lowestoft causing an asbestos scare were this week described as 'thoughtless' and 'selfish.

FLY-tippers who dumped dangerous waste on the former north Denes caravan site in Lowestoft causing an asbestos scare were this week described as 'thoughtless' and 'selfish.'

Waveney Norse's cleansing service team was called out last Thursday (May 20) following reports from a Lowestoft businessman who spotted that a large double glazed window unit and some asbestos had been dumped in the grass.

'A crew was sent immediately due to the dangerous nature of the waste,' Mike Daniels, Waveney Norse's cleansing service manager said. 'Thankfully it was not asbestos sheeting as first thought, however the glass unit was still a dangerous item to dump and on top of the unsightliness, these thoughtless, selfish actions could have caused injury.'

Given fly-tipping is a serious offence, which has led the council to successfully prosecute individuals in the past, this latest call-out comes in the midst of a crackdown on those responsible.

'We deal with on average with 850 fly-tips per year costing in the region of �30,000 per year,' Mr Daniels said. 'This money could go to improving the cleansing service further.'

He said there had been a decline in fly-tipping incidents over the past few years, which was largely due to the council's link-up with The Journal and the subsequent Tidy Town campaign.

Mr Daniels added: 'It is still a large issue. I and the street cleaners have been trained in issuing incident tickets (gathering evidence), which assists the enforcement teams in their investigations for littering and fly-tipping offences.

'In the last six months of the scheme, street cleansing has issued 92 incident tickets where evidence has been found. This has resulted in 18 fixed penalty notices being issued from our enforcement team for fly-tipping, littering and dog fouling in addition to 74 education letters being sent to possible offenders.'

Praising the cleansing services team for all their efforts in keeping Lowestoft tidy and for their prompt actions last week, Journal reader Kevin Bacon said: 'The council responded within hours, removing the rubbish which was obviously dangerous to children - I think they deserve praise for what must at times be a thankless task, necessary because of peoples thoughtlessness.'