The Preston street where dumped fridges, toilets and furniture are a common sight

David McMurtrie claims that he and his wife are confronted with discarded furniture and electrical goods almost every time they set foot out of their front door and step onto Constable Street on the outskirts of the city centre.

The dead-end road has become a magnet for rubbish dumping, with unwanted items regularly left leaning up against the wall which lines the rear of a row of shops on neighbouring Meadow Street. The Lancashire Post has witnessed the problem on two separate occasions in recent months.

David said that no sooner has the waste been cleared, that a new consignment arrives to replace it.

“Just at the moment, there is a fridge and a couple of mattresses there, but we’ve had toilets, wardrobes, bookcases, the lot.

“My wife is a proud woman and she likes a bit of tidiness – and yet we have to look at this every time we leave home. It brings the area down and it was never like that before.

“A lot of it appears overnight, but at least some of it seems to be coming from the flats above the shops. There is quite a high turnover of tenants and every time somebody moves out, they take all the stuff out and just dump it for somebody else to deal with,” David added.

He believes that fly-tippers are being encouraged by the often overflowing commercial waste bins stored on Constable Street, which serve the various food outlets that are part of the Meadow Street parade of shops.

“The bins from the takeaways are so big that they can’t get them into their yards – and yet they fill up so quickly. The seagulls then come and burst the bags that are lying around – it’s just horrendous,” said David.

The Post attempted to contact several of the food businesses on Meadow Street and the manager of one outlet – who did not want to be named – said that they too were victims of unauthorised waste disposal.

“People are coming here and using our big bins - which we have to pay for - to dispose of their own rubbish. Most days, we have to jump into the bins to flatten them down, just so that we can try to get our waste inside,” he explained.

The area is managed by the Community Gateway Association and the housing provider’s head of asset management, Lee Garry, said he was “disappointed” to learn of what residents have had to live with.

“We investigate any reports made to us seriously and work with the appropriate authorities to take action. Now that we are aware of the issue, we have visited the site and will schedule work to get this footpath cleared up in the short term.

“Teams will be working closely with the council and others to ensure that they take enforcement action to avoid this becoming a persistent problem,” Mr Garry added.