TRADERS have called on the authorities to do more to prevent fly tipping at the back of their shops in York.

Gordon Campbell-Thomas, of It's Donated, in Lowther Street, arrived at work to find five mattresses, two arm chairs and piles of rubbish behind his store.

City of York Council cleared the items away a week after Mr Campbell-Thomas reported the incident, and he says more must be done to stop fly-tipping taking place.

He said: "It's totally unacceptable. There was so much rubbish I couldn't get out of my back door.

"I reported this last Thursday and was told it would be sorted out. It shouldn't be here and the council aren't clearing it up quick enough.

"It looks like a bombed-out place in Beirut.

"It looks terrible and people shouldn't be doing this in the first place, and the council should have more mechanisms in place to sort this out.

Mr Campbell-Thomas says he was relieved to see the rubbish taken away, but now wants CCTV put in place to prevent a re-occurrence of the problem.

"They need to put up some sort of camera," he added.

"It's not the council's fault this has happened but there was a lot of rubbish and it's ridiculous."

Vicki Westerman, owner of Sculpture Hair and Beauty, added: "Since I took over in 2014 I have seen an improvement in the street drinking situation in The Groves with the introduction of the Public Spaces Protection Order. However, there has been an increase in fly tipping, and also an increase in lazy residents who leave bin bags outside the bins provided by the council which allows foxes and rats to pull the bags open and spill the contents on the road.

Resident Natalie Drake, of Backhouse Street, York, said: "The cost of the council clearing large items is prohibitive and that stops residents from using the clearance service, a better charging system should be introduced."

Russell Stone, head of operations, City of York Council, said: "Following the first report of this fly-tipping, we investigated the scene and then notified the street cleansing team which removed the items, all within target times. Successful prosecutions of fly-tipping can result in fines from Magistrates Courts of up to £50,000."