Fly-tipping blight takes

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At least eight lorry trailers have been left abandoned around Ashford.

They are all believed to be filled with used tyres and have been stripped of their registration plates and other identification details.

There are no company markings on the abandoned containers dotted on the roadsides at venues which include the A20, the Hothfield lay-by, the entrance to Matalan, Bridge Road, in a lay-by along the A28 towards Tenterden and on the Cobbs Wood industrial estate.

It is not clear why the trailers have been left where they are.

Keith Hardy, factory manager at Mercury Windows, first noticed them more than five weeks ago.

He said: “I just happened to notice these trailers left there in lay-bys.

“There seems no intention to come back and pick them up.

“They look in a poor state of repair. The curtains are all bulging out the side, particularly the one near the Hare and Hounds pub. We drive past them every day. They quite clearly cannot be towed as they are.

“It’s taking up lay-by space. We did contact the police about them. If they are commercial tyres, they should be disposed of properly. They are meant to be recycling them.

“Presumably at some point the council will have to have the trailers removed and we will pay for the disposal as council taxpayers.”

An Ashford Borough Council spokesman said: “We are aware of this emerging problem and, together with other agencies, are investigating legal options to resolve the issue.”

The council confirmed that they will work with Kent Fire and Rescue Service, Kent Police, Kent County Council and the Environment Agency to rectify the problem. Similar incidents, which have been treated as flytipping, have happened across the country in recent months.

I n York, regional media reported that in Dunnington, a large trailer was abandoned in a

A trailer left in Hothfield lay-by; inset, the dumped trailers are stripped of registration plates