A LOCAL businessman has installed CCTV cameras to help catch fly-tippers after 20 years of misery caused by rubbish being dumped.

Keith Strang, of KB Carpets in The Sidings, Leytonstone, installed the cameras in conjunction with the council about a year ago in a bid to keep waste from being left near his business.

And following the introduction of the council's conviction reward scheme, he has now been given a cash reward of £150 after supplying video evidence of fly-tipping.

Mr Strang said: “It's been going on ever since I've been here and that's 20 years.

“They come here because they're out of sight of everybody but now they're not out of sight of the cameras.”

He added that the problem has been so severe in the past that staff have been unable to use the company carpark and have been forced to park elsewhere, risking receiving tickets.

Mr Strang said: “We had the cameras put up in partnership with the council and now we monitor and maintain them.

“Sometimes, it means sitting there for about an hour, looking through to find something on the video.”

He said the problem was also made worse as sometimes fly-tippers obscure their licence plates so that they cannot be caught on CCTV.

“I think they're just lowlife animals,” Mr Strang said.

Mr Strang was the first to be given a cash reward after the council's scheme was launched in August this year.

Rewards can be between £100 and £500 for supplying evidence leading to the prosecution of graffiti artists, fly-tippers and people who commit other “environmental crimes”.