TWO litter louts face court costs of £778 because they dumped their household rubbish in a field.

Robert Peter James Hogg, 18, Nina Price and two friends let the rubbish pile up in the house they were living in, said Matthew Boxall, of City of York Council.

When they learned the owner of the Wigginton house was making an unexpected visit to inspect his property, they had to get rid of the mess quickly.

So Hogg and Price loaded at least four bags of rubbish into Price's car, which she drove to a field outside the town used by horses, and Hogg threw the bags over the hedge.

York magistrates told the pair: "It was a potential danger because in the field there were horses which could have been harmed".

Hogg, of Avenue Terrace, Clifton, and Price, of East Close, Fangfoss, pleaded guilty to fly-tipping and each was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £389.35 prosecution costs.

Mr Boxall said the field next to Skelton Lane, Wigginton, belonged to York and District Riding Club and its vice chairman, Rachel Blueman, found the rubbish when she made a routine visit on September 14.

She called in City of York Council's Street Scene department, whose staff removed the bags. Inside, they found documents addressed to a Miss Catherine Fisher, of Walmer Carr, Wigginton.

Mis Fisher told the council that Walmer Carr was the address of her parents, who were away in France. While they were absent, four of her friends were staying in the house. All four friends explained to the council officers that they did put rubbish into a wheelie bin. But sometimes they forgot to put the rubbish out and it tended to pile up.

Then they learned the house's owner was returning to England to visit the house the next Monday morning, so quickly tidied it up.

Hogg and Price said they feared they would be kicked out of the house if they did not get rid of the rubbish, but by the time they had tidied up, the household waste dump was closed.

So Hogg suggested they dump the rubbish in the field and Price helped him.

Neither Hogg nor Price was represented.

Price said: "We know what we did was wrong."

Hogg said: "We are prepared to pay the price. We will take it on the chin."