DUMPED asbestos waste has finally been removed from a country lane near York - thanks to "the power of the Press."

Specialist contractors collected the six bags of waste from the verge in Plainville Lane, Wigginton, late last Friday.

The Evening Press reported earlier last week how the asbestos material had been left on the verge since fly tippers dumped it there back in May.

Emergency services considered the matter so serious at the time that they sealed off the road before carefully bagging up the waste and taping off the area of verge.

But the tape used by North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service had remained there so long by last week that it had faded in the sunshine.

Farmer John Bell told of his fears that curious children who often cycled along the lane might open one of the bags to see what was inside, and expose themselves to potentially-deadly asbestos dust.

He said residents had repeatedly contacted local authorities such as Hambleton District Council to press for the waste to be removed, but nothing had ever happened.

The Evening Press was alerted to the problem by another frustrated person, Veryan Gibson, who said numerous requests to the council by at least three local people had been ignored.

After being contacted by the Press, the council admitted that the six-week delay was unacceptable and apologised.

A spokeswoman said while the authority had responsibility for taking away fly-tipped waste from public land, it had had to contact North Yorkshire County Council in this particular case - involving hazardous materials - so it could arrange for specialist contractors to collect it. She said it had now contacted the county again.

The county council said new procedures would be introduced to speed up the collection of such waste in future, and said the waste would be removed on Friday.

Mr Bell's wife, Eileen, said the contractors had come as promised, and said she was in no doubt that action had happened because of the intervention of the Evening Press.

Updated: 10:24 Tuesday, July 12, 2005