IT was just the start to the New Year we all wanted: mountains of rubbish dumped on public land near the centre of York. The rubbish included bedding, carpeting and what looked like an old bath. And it had been dumped just a few minutes’ walk from the central tip at Hazel Court.

The contempt for other people displayed by whoever was responsible is breathtaking.

It is hard to imagine how anyone could behave this selfishly. And yet fly-tipping is becoming a scourge of our times. Our footpaths, verges and hedgerows these days are fouled with rubbish. And it goes way beyond being careless about dropping litter.

Fly-tipping is becoming almost a business, it seems. It is hard to avoid the suspicion that some people are taking money to dispose of rubbish properly - then simply dumping it to save incurring charges. Be in no doubt about it, this is criminal behaviour. Just last December, York’s top judge jailed one serial fly-tipper - William Eric Pipes - for nine months for dumping rubbish. “There is far too much fly-tipping,” the Honorary Recorder of York Judge Paul Batty told Pipes. “The courts have to indicate it simply will not be tolerated.”

The council is doing what it can. It issued 12 penalty notices last year and mounted three successful prosecutions. In today’s newspaper we report how another fly-tipper, Timothy Gibbs-Youngman, has been landed with a £1,137 court bill. Yet still these people continue to blight our beautiful city.

We’re not sure what the answer is. But we’d urge anyone who spots someone dumping rubbish to call the police or the council, giving all the details they can. These disgusting people have to learn that flytipping doesn’t pay