A man allegedly caught fly-tipping at a coastal home was said to have brazenly smashed through a hedge to make his getaway after getting locked in.

A gardener and another man locked the driveway gates at a property on Coast Road in Hopton after spotting the apparent fly tipper.

As they called the police, the man was said to have driven through a hedgerow into a neighbouring field as he fled the scene.

On Monday, August 15 at around 3pm, a man in a white courier van was seen by a gardener and a friend of the homeowner dumping garden waste, including hedge trimmings, broken fence panels and an old ladder, on the driveway of the private property.

Trevor Fuller, the homeowner who was away during the incident, said: "A friend of mine sent a picture of the man and asked if this is someone I let walk their dog on the driveway.

"When I saw the picture, I noticed the van door was open with a load of hedge trimmings sticking out.

"I told my friend, 'that wasn't a dog walker, that's a fly tipper. Get back there now.'"

Mr Fuller's friend locked the gates to the driveway while a gardener challenged the man about the alleged fly tipping.

"The man refused to pick it up," Mr Fuller said. "He said he'd worked here for 30 years and he can do what he wants.

"I don't know what he's talking about because he doesn't work here. I live here."

Mr Fuller said his friend told him that Suffolk Constabulary would not attend the scene and instructed the friend to reopen the driveway gates.

"The police told my friend the man needs to be let out," Mr Fuller said.

After the call with police, the man was said to have "drove up the driveway, drove straight across the private property through a hedgerow and onto the field at Potters and drove off through Potters that way".

Mr Fuller said he was shocked by the incident, but he had had ongoing issues with fly-tippers - particularly with garden waste - since the first lockdown.

"And on the picture my friend sent, the van was so full, it looked like the door couldn't even shut," Mr Fuller added.

A spokesperson from Suffolk Constabulary said: "We are investigating this incident and will be talking to the resident concerned.”