Flytippers arrested after fed-up locals blocked them in | UK News

Two flytippers were arrested after a group of villagers blocked their vans as they dumped piles of rubbish on the side of a country lane.

Photos showed the moment Warwickshire Police officers seized white vans on the edge of Meriden, thanks to quick-thinking locals.

Villagers used their cars to barricade the vans as they unloaded waste on Maxstoke Lane on the Packington Estate.

The most recent blockade comes 12 years after residents tried to stop an illegal traveller site on the edge of the village by camping on the road for more than 600 days.

It is understood last Wednesday’s blockade – just one mile from their last protest – didn’t last quite as long as police arrived minutes after receiving a 999 call.

Police said the incident was ‘some of the worst flytipping we had seen in a long time’.

A force statement said: ‘We attended the Packington Estate on Maxstone Lane near Meriden to a report of two vans flytipping.

‘We attended in support of North Warwickshire Local Policing officers who had been called to the scene after local residents and workers on the estate had blocked the offenders in.

‘On arrival we found some of the worse flytipping we had seen in a long time. We detained two males who were instructed to reload the two vans with all the rubbish dumped.

‘We supervised them cleaning up their mess and enjoyed a great cup of tea and slice of home made cake courtesy of the farmer’s wife. No cake and tea for these two offenders.’

Two men were detained and ordered to reload their back up with rubbish, with the vans then being seized under the Environmental Act.

A police spokesperson said: ‘Cleaning up the results of flytipping is the responsibility of the local council and members of the public who discover incidents of fly-tipping should report it to them directly.

‘Officers from the Warwickshire Rural Crime Team also attended the scene and have now taken on the investigation and prosecution case.’

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