Fly-tippers at a rubbish-dumping hotspot in Bradford could have put children at risk of getting cancer.

Sheets of corrugated roofing, which can contain deadly asbestos fibres, were among the mountain of garbage which regularly blocks a normally busy cut-through road in Bowling.

Environment Agency enforcement officers, one of whom is pictured here, launched a major summer fly-tipping crackdown in the area. They were left shocked at the threat to public safety the illegal tippers were causing.

The undercover investigators spent up to five hours a night over three weeks keeping watch on the dumping grounds in Birkshall Lane and Mount Street.

They discovered two or three flytippers turning up every night and unloading everything from builders waste and tree cuttings to three-piece suites, mattresses, cupboards and fridges.

But the most worrying items dumped were the corrugated roofing sheets.

The Agency's special enforcement officer, Mike Robotham, said: "There was at least one load of asbestos dumped in various quantities every week.

"Corrugated asbestos sheeting is classified as specialist waste because of its carcinogenic value. If it is inhaled it can cause cancers to develop in the body which can be potentially fatal. It should be treated with caution.

"There are local sites run by the Council where people can take it, and when it is dealt with properly people wear a full set of gloves, goggles and breathing masks. But people were just throwing this stuff out of their vehicles on to the road where it was breaking up and exposing the sharp edges where the fibres are.

"There was a risk to people unaware of the dangers, like young children. The illegal tip is close to a travellers encampment where a number of children live.

"I saw youngsters venturing down and amusing themselves among the illegally dumped materials, some of which were corrugated metal. They could have been potentially threatened with cancer in later life."

Mr Robotham said they also had health concerns about CFC gases - which damage the ozone layer - being released into the air from large commercial refrigerators. They were being dumped at a rate of up to 30 a week.

And canisters of flammable solvents were regularly abandoned by the flytippers. One leaked its contents down the road, creating a fire hazard.

Dozens of old tyres were also dumped. If set alight, they could give off poisonous fumes.

Other rubbish dumped included builders waste, such as bricks and hard core and weighing three or four tons on average, whole conifer trees, beds, carpets, toys, books and bags of old food tins.

And the illegal dumping ground was situated less than 300 yards from one of the largest official council waste tips in the city.

Mr Robotham added: "Birkshall Lane is in a mainly industrial and commercial area and many companies need to use the road for their business. It is also used as a common cut-through for motorists.

"But the flytippers were dumping on both the footpath and the road and you could rarely gain access because the tipping was completely blocking the highway."

The investigators, camouflaged in combat jackets, hid in bushes in a nearby railway embankment to watch the flytippers through binoculars and film evidence of their illegal activities with digital video cameras.

Other Yorkshire hotspots will be targeted.

They are now preparing files on 20 cases which they plan to take to the magistrates court where fines of up to £20,000 could be imposed under the Environ-mental Protection Act.

Mr Robotham added: "Clearing up after flytippers is costing Council Tax payers an absolute fortune. We are delighted with the results of the operation."