A man says he is at his wits' end after months of flytipping on land adjoining the back of his home.

Andrew Richards said his back yard had become infested with rats due to litterbugs treating the area as a rubbish dump.

Mr Richards has suffered refrigerators, mattresses, rubble and all sorts of industrial and household waste dumped next to his house in Aberford Road, Girlington, Bradford.

He said he even tried to tackle one of the litterbugs who threw rubbish from the back of a van, only to be met with abuse.

His problem has been made worse as it was not known who owned the land, meaning that it has taken weeks for Mr Richards to get anywhere with his complaint.

Bradford Council has had to apply to the Land Registry to discover the land owner's identity and has now served them with a statutory notice to clean it up.

But in the meantime the rubbish pile behind Mr Richards' house continues to grow, he said.

"It seems like everybody in Bradford is using it as a dumping ground," he said.

"There is a five-foot pile of rubbish looking over my back wall.

Cracking down on flytipping is high on the Council's agenda and one of the cornerstones of the Telegraph & Argus Bin it for Bradford campaign, designed to restore pride in the district.

Anyone caught flytipping can face fines of up to £5,000 and/or 12 months in prison.

A Council spokesman said: "We received a complaint about flytipping on land at Aberford Road on March 22.

"An enforcement officer investigated the complaint on March 30 and spoke to the complainant.

"As we did not know who owned the land, we applied to the Land Registry and received the information back on April 13.

"We have contacted the owner of the land and asked them to clear it and we will continue to monitor the situation."

e-mail: mark.casci @bradford.newsquest.co.uk