Failure to pay skip company landed man in heap of trouble

Unlucky residents on a Blackpool street were left overlooking a mountain of litter that was unceremoniously dumped on their neighbour’s doorstep.

Workers at Blackpool skip company Kwik Skip dumped the rubbish outside a house on Braithwaite Street, North Shore, on Thursday after the man who hired the metal container failed to pay the £234 he owed them.

Neighbours have spoken out in disgust about the unsightly pile of rubbish, which they say is a safety hazard to local children. But John Gold, owner of Kwik Skip on Albany Road in Lytham, defended his company’s actions.

He said: “I have been in this business for more than 13 years and this is the first time I’ve had to do something like this. It’s not something I want to do but I want to earn a living and be paid for the service we provide.”

Retired property developer Allan Owen, 58, who lives on Braithwaite Street, said: “There’s glass and bottles everywhere. It’s just a massive mess.

“It can’t be left like that because there are children who like to play around here and you know what children are like. They’ll start climbing over it and end up getting hurt.

“They didn’t even put up any warning signs telling people they were going to dump it. It shows no regard for health and safety.

“I had to move my car because the rubbish was up to the wheels.

“People who live here are trying to tidy the street up and make it look nice. We have a meeting once a month about how we can improve the street and all of a sudden this happens. I’m flabbergasted.

“It’s going to attract all sorts of vermin.”

Mr Gold said: “We agreed to drop the skip off at the property on Saturday morning and the payment should have been made then. We spoke to the person who said he didn’t have any money on him and we agreed to put the skip down but said that he would have to pay within the next few days.

“From then on we tried to get in touch with him several times but we had no reply.

“There is no litter on the street; it’s all on the privately owned property of the home. There was little bit that spilled out onto the pavement but we cleared it aside.

“As far as I’m concerned we have done nothing wrong.”

A police spokesman said: “We were made aware of the rubbish at about 10:50am when a neighbour called in to say a skip company hadtipped the contents of the skip onto the pavement. By 11:45am the rubbish was moved onto private property.”

The rubbish was cleared by Blackpool Council on Friday afternoon after its owner, who lives in London, agreed to pay for its removal.