ANGRY residents have called for action to be taken against fly tippers who have blighted lanes near Droitwich for the fourth time this year.

On Monday night a huge pile of branches was dumped in the middle of a single-track lane between Saleway and Dunhampstead, completely blocking the way.

Wychavon District Council, which cleared the road within 24-hours, has slammed the offence as "deliberate and reckless".

David Greenwood, 69, who lives close to the affected road, said: "We are just fed up with it round the lanes. It is dangerous.

"If you send for an ambulance or a fire engine anything big like just wouldn't have got through. It is as simple as that. The other way round is a two-mile detour. It just winds you up."

Wife of the former Wychavon District Councillor, Gwen Greenwood added: "It is a shame these incidents aren't properly investigated. It is worrying that the police aren't involved.

"That is almost encouragement rather than sorting the problem out which is probably cheaper in the long term."

Mrs Greenwood, 65, wrote to the District Council and West Mercia Police earlier this week, urging them to install motion-sensitive cameras in the lane to catch the culprits.

She said: "We can send space ships to Mars but we can't have cameras that come on at night time - night vision cameras that could come on when people enter a certain area."

This year has seen a spike in the number of fly tipping incidents in the area.

According to the District Council there have been just ten reports of fly tipping on the lane in the past decade.

But since January 2015, there have been four with Mr Greenwood claiming more have taken place in nearby Huddington.

Sharon Casswell, client services manager for the District Council, said: “This was not only illegal but a deliberate and reckless act which endangered motorists, particularly with the foggy weather at the start of this week.

“We have a variety of tools available to us to tackle fly-tipping and we’re reviewing the situation to see what more can be done in this location.

“Fly-tipping is not a harmless crime. It costs the taxpayer and landowners money to deal with, inconveniences the public and, as in this case, can be dangerous. Where we find evidence we will always prosecute.”

A spokesperson for West Mercia Police said: "Generally fly tipping is a council issue but obviously it is an offence so we would prosecute people if we found who was doing it."

The spokesperson added fly tipping offences should be reported to Droitwich's Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT).

Contact the SNT on the non-emergency number 101.