A disgruntled father-of-two has won his battle to get the Bradford Council to clear up his block of flats thanks to the Telegraph & Argus.

Former licensee John Gill repeatedly complained to the Council about the build up of rubbish outside his flat in Kirkham House, Parkway, West Bowling, but to no avail.

Split rubbish bags had spilled their contents into stairwells and along corridors where they disintegrated and rotted over a matter of months causing a disgusting smell.

A shattered six-foot pane of glass on the first-floor stairwell had also left a dangerous shard sticking out which Mr Gill feared could "behead someone" if it fell to the ground below.

Despite numerous calls to the Council's Newell Street housing office, the rubbish remained and Mr Gill even threatened to bag up some of it up and bring it into the office.

Mr Gill, who has lived in his flat for 16 months, said: "We tried to chuck most of it but some of it has been there since November last year.

"I don't bring anybody back now, there's just so much rubbish everywhere and the Council aren't doing anything about it.

"Every morning I go down and get out sprays to disinfect the stairwells because of the smells. One of the collections bins can't even be put back in the chute because there's so much rubbish jammed in behind it.

"It's absolutely terrible and if someone slams the door below and that piece of glass falls out it's going to behead someone."

One of his daughters, Joanna, 18, even refused to visit her father because of the mess and stench.

Desperate for a solution Mr Gill turned to the T&A who contacted Bradford Council.

A spokesman for Bradford Council's Newell Street housing office said: "An order for the rubbish bags and the area around the block to be cleared has been made and the repair team has been asked to check for broken windows and carry out any necessary repairs."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.