A pile of chemical rubbish dumped outside a house and left there for two years has left a Swindon resident feeling 'ashamed'.
Jane Coulthard says the heap is leaking toxic waste into her driveway, bringing flies and rats into her house, and affecting her health.
The overgrown pile in the driveway next to her home includes a mouldy mattress, bottles of degreaser and descaler and rubble.
Jane said: “It is horrible and it smells. It absolutely stinks out there because they have got half-open bottles just checked with the tops off.
“It's just disgusting, I've got flies coming in and the smell is horrendous when it is raining."
Pictures show ‘bubbly and foamy’ waste she says comes from the bottles leaking into her garden when it rains.
Jane says it has rotted her fence and is causing it to fall down. She suffers from a long-term health condition and believes living next to the mess to have made it worse.
She said: “I feel ashamed of where I am living at the moment. I shouldn’t have to.”
Where the responsibility for the rubbish lies is a difficult question for Jane to answer.
Callum Forbes, who lives in the same area, admits the chemicals are his and left over from a now liquidated business venture.
But he says the mouldy mattress was fly-tipped there, the fence panels are the landlord’s and the driveway belongs to a tenant who has now passed away.
Callum claims to have been told the chemicals do not pose any environmental harm.
When the Adver visited the site, it did not find any open bottles, though full bottles of degreaser and descaler had evidently been left in the open for a long time.
Callum said he does have plans to get the chemicals removed ‘when they find somewhere to put them’.
And, when approached by the Adver, the landlord said: “I have told the tenants previously to clear any mess but the last time I had notification of a problem was September 8, 2023 and this is the first time since then I've been notified of a problem.
“The tenants responsible have been given notice to clear the rubbish.”
Mirius descaler, the brand found, says ‘avoid releasing into the environment’, but that it is ‘not regarded as dangerous for the environment’.
The same information applies to the degreaser.
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