Tippers have dumped so much rubbish in a grassy-banked beck in the heart of a York housing estate that the ducks have to get out and walk round the obstruction.

WATER WHEELS: Council workmen remove the rubbish from the beck minutes after the Evening Press photographed the rubbish Pictures: Frank Dwyer

When the Evening Press visited the beck by Yearsley Field, Bell Farm, it contained:

six abandoned motorbikes;a washing machine;a shopping trolley;a bed;a bicycle;a Keep Left sign;

And just a few yards away in some bushes lay a burnt-out car.

One resident, Douglas Fillingham of The Crossway, claimed workmen who cleared the beck simply moved rubbish to its sides and it ended up being pushed back in again, creating such an obstruction that the ducks had to walk round.

"It's been a dumping area for ages. I have been round here all my life, it's been like this the last three or four years and its getting worse," he said.

Gareth Barrett, of Kirkham Avenue, said one of his dogs was slightly injured when it was cut on the burnt-out car.

Chairman of the Bell Farm Residents' Association Dennis Leeming said residents checked the area every month and the council cleaned it up when problems were reported.Shortly after the Evening Press arrived, a group of council workmen started taking the old motorbikes out of the beck.

Paul Thackray, head of client and city centre services for the council's environmental service, said: "When we receive a complaint from the public we do try to respond as quickly as possible, and in this case we have responded by tackling the problem."

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