AN angry Darlington resident has complained that the litter problem in the town is worse than ever, despite the council's efforts to solve the problem.

Peter Ford, who lives in Faverdale, has made numerous complaints to Darlington Borough Council about litter and fly-tipping in Faverdale Road, Whessoe Road and Burtree Lane, but said the problem persists.

"We had some visitors over from Australia and they were absolutely shocked at the problem," he said.

"I was embarrassed showing them around the town and they said they didn't know how we lived with it."

He said that dog waste bins were rarely emptied and fly-tipping was getting worse.

A council spokeswoman said it had received Mr Ford's complaints and every time he brought something to its attention the council tried to deal with it.

She said: "While we do clear up litter when it is dropped, it is not the council putting the litter there in the first place and we are trying to discourage people from doing it.

"We will be emptying the dog bin on Faverdale Road more frequently now and we are sending our litter squad out to the places Mr Ford has mentioned to tackle the problem."