HORRIFIED residents have hit out at fly tippers who dumped a huge trail of rubbish, including a garden shed, children’s toys and bin bags of household waste in a country lane.

Councillors are now hoping investigators can find some evidence as to who dumped it among the rubbish and warned they will go to court.

The 40 foot long trail of rubbish was discovered by a cyclist on Sunday March 22 on Long Lane near Picton, between Northallerton and Yarm.

It includes numerous black bin bags of refuse, plus what looks like a dismantled shed, a mini trampoline, and lots of children’s toys including pushchairs and cars.

The stunned cyclist said: “Out for a ride this afternoon but left speechless by this unbelievable act of thoughtlessness it made me sad and angry in equal measure.”

Another resident said: “It’s disgusting, it makes me so angry would love to know where these people live and dump it on their front door.”

Hambleton District councillor Stephen Watson said they would be investigating to see if they could find out where the rubbish came from and who dumped it.

He added: “It is absolutely disgraceful at the best of times that this rubbish should be dumped and in the current situation when everyone is not supposed to be going out and to be staying indoors it is appalling.

“We will try and move it as soon as we possibly can but at the current time it is difficult.

“Obviously we will look into this, the rubbish can be examined for any indication of where it has come from and who it belongs to to try and find out who could have put it there.

“We would ask anyone who recognises it to get in touch, it may have been in their neighbours garden, or their garden.

“Someone may have employed people to move the rubbish and they have simply dumped it, it could be a house clearance, licences are needed to move large amounts of waste.

“We would take court action if we can.”

The lane is very close to the A19 and it’s thought the rubbish could have come from anywhere within quite a wide radius and was probably dumped at night when people would not be seen.

There is concern that this could become a bigger problem after North Yorkshire County Council closed waste recycling tips around the county on Tuesday, although the tips were still open when this was dumped last weekend.

Anyone with information can report it to hambleton.gov.uk