Illegal fly-tipping has soared to a disturbing level in Bradford as elsewhere, we are told, because the cost of waste disposal has risen. Some businesses now prefer to risk fly-tipping rather than dispose of their waste in the normal way. Others are employing criminal operators to do the job for them.

It is now a big business. Just how big can be judged by the suggestion from the Environment Agency that gangs which previously dealt in drugs are now moving into fly-tipping because it's more profitable. That is a staggering claim, but one which seems feasible when you consider that someone in a white van can go around collecting waste for £50 a time and then go off and dump it minutes later in a lane or lay-by or on a car park at no cost.

At worst it is dangerous - as in the case of the asbestos waste dumped in the loading bay at Dunns Stores in Idle recently. In any event, tipping even of less deadly material makes an unsightly mess which creates an appalling impression and is costly to clean up.

The plan to use hidden cameras and secret tracking devices in the war against the tippers is a welcome move. The Council's enforcement team clearly need every weapon at their disposal - including the co-operation of a watchful public - if they are to beat the tippers.

But they also need the wholehearted support of the courts, which must impose maximum penalties. Only when improved chances of getting caught are backed by swingeing fines will these criminals decide that it simply isn't worth it.