Car seized and crushed over fly-tips parked near Derby as warning

Fly-tippers are being sent a crushing message

A crushed car has been parked up in a Derbyshire lane as a warning to fly-tippers.

The wreck was once a Vauxhall Insignia, seized by South Derbyshire District Council under legal powers over its connections to repeated fly-tips.

The council says it has "compelling evidence" the car has been involved in "multiple" fly-tipping incidents.

It has warned other would-be environmental criminals that their vehicles could be next in the crusher.

The car met the claw at a wreckers yard

The site, a layby on Arleston Lane, Barrow-upon-Trent, south of Sinfin, was chosen after being identified as a hotspot for fly-tippers.

Items previously illegally dumped along the lane include several sofas, a pile of slabs, mattresses, flooring, a sink, a pedal bin and other household waste, according to fly-tip reporting service Clear Waste.

Matthew Holford, the council's head of environmental services, told the BBC: "Fly-tipping is a selfish act which causes enormous annoyance for residents, damages the environment and is often driven by greed or laziness.

"The council has been working hard for many years to prevent it."

The Vauxhall Insignia was seized over its connections of enviromental crime

The person in possession of the crushed vehicle when it was seized had the chance to prove that they owned it, said the council.

After failing to do so, the council used powers under waste laws to destroy it.

The authority is now using it to illustrate the potential consequences of fly-tipping as part of its ongoing campaign to disrupt the criminals behind illegal waste dumping.