FOR the past five years this Morecambe woman has paid about £1,000 to clear away rubbish dumped by people using her business as a tip.

Jean Taylor who owns the Astra Ballroom on Green Street even built a wall to stop the illegal tippers - but they just knocked it down.

Dumping has occurred since Mrs Taylor took over 11 years ago but has been particularly bad during the last five years.

Said Mrs Taylor: "I just wish I could catch the people who do this. It's costing me a fortune. I can't leave it because once one or two rats were seen in the area. It's the size of the stuff they leave. We've have whole beds, three piece suites, the lot. I take stuff to the tip when I can but so much of the stuff is just too big.

"We've had them out about eight or nine times and had the biggest pay out just last week - £162."

Mrs Taylor explained that she has retired from the business already and is the process of selling the property. She said: "I'm not in the best of health any more and this hasn't helped. The whole thing needs sorting out with the environmental health department. After all this isn't my rubbish. We do what we can in our cars to clear it but sometimes it's just too much."

A spokesman for the city council confirmed that Lancaster's environmental health department had been billing Mrs Taylor.

He added: "The problem is the sheer amount of work involved which costs money.

"This is on a piece of private land. We would reiterate that the solution is to build a wall to protect the area. We can advise her on that and about illegal dumping generally."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.