Fly-tipped waste blocks deliveries for steel firm

Birmingham firm F. H. Warden (Steel) Ltd said the road was a "fly-tippers paradise"

A steel business in Birmingham has said it cannot be run effectively, because of fly-tipped rubbish outside.

F. H. Warden (Steel) Ltd said deliveries had been blocked and it stood to lose thousands of pounds in trade.

Steel firm owner Patricia Hughes said after through traffic was stopped, Adderley Road South "effectively became a cul-de-sac" and it was a "fly-tippers paradise".

Birmingham City Council said it investigated incidents and "do not hesitate to take enforcement action".

The council came numerous times and cleared what was there, Ms Hughes said, with the latest rubbish arriving over the last two or three weeks.

The authority had responded, but it was "not good enough, because we now cannot run our business effectively," due to fly-tipping impacting on the firm's gates.

Ms Hughes said: "Our men this morning had to come out and shift rubbish so the wagons could get in."

She added: "We can't get out, customers can't get in, we're closed."

Fly-tipping was impacting on the company's gates, owner Patricia Hughes said

Ms Hughes said the council had talked to the business and a few options had been discussed.

"They said they would close the road and pay to open up another entrance for us."

"But we said 'why don't you [put a] CCTV camera in with number-plate recognition and solve the problem?'"

Council cabinet member for environment Majid Mahmood said: "We investigate incidents and do not hesitate to take enforcement action or prosecute offenders, as demonstrated in the past by many high-profile cases."

Adderley Road South is near the former Birmingham Wheels site

Mr Mahmood said those who dumped waste on public or private land were "environmental criminals", who were expecting others "to foot the bill for the disposal of their rubbish and unwanted items".

He added there were many legitimate ways to get rid of waste, including "our household recycling centres which have plenty of capacity, so there is simply no excuse".