A POWICK resident who stopped two men dumping rubbish at night near the Carrington Bridge says he is bitterly disappointed at the response he got from the police and council.

Martin Cullen came across the men dumping rubbish out of a three-and-a-half ton truck at about 9pm on Thursday on the slip road leading down off Temeside Way to the fields and the banks of the River Severn.

He said: "One of them had got some of the rubbish off the truck and was trying to set light to it, but I told them to get it loaded back up on to the truck and get it out of here.

"They were effing and blinding at me, but they did it. You just have to stand up to people like that. They were dumping plastic bags full of rubbish, lumps of concrete and branches of trees."

But Mr Cullen was dismayed when he phoned police, telling them about the incident and giving the truck's registration and other details, only to be told it was not a police matter.

"They told me to call Malvern Hills District Council on out-of-hours number, but it went through to a call centre, and although the day took the details, she didn't say they were going to send anyone out that night.

"What's the point of having an after-hours number if no-one does anything when you call it? And the police could have done something after I called them up and gave them the details.

"Instead they probably just drove off and dumped the rubbish somewhere else. There's a 20 grand fine for fly-tipping,but no-one will be fined if no-one ever gets caught."

Mr Cullen, aged 64, who described himself as semi-retired, says this was not the first time rubbish had been dumped down this slip road.

He said: "You can go down there now and see what other people have dumped there. It's not going to stop unless someone does something about it."

A police spokesman said that fly-tipping is a civil matter, and the police will not be making a comment on it.

A district council spokesman said that following Mr Cullen's call, a fly-tipping team went out to the location on Friday afternoon and an old printer, cardboard boxes and other items.