Last Updated on 11th January 2021 by James Jacobs

Residents of Southampton street up in arms after asbestos dumped on road

A neighbourhood in Southampton are said to be furious after asbestos dumped on road in the area was discovered on an abandoned truck.

The truck was abandoned on Peach Road in Coxford roughly six weeks ago.

Residents 1st reported the abandoned truck more than five weeks ago.

The DVLA are only just taking action against the driver of the truck. much to the resident’s dismay.

Concern grew amongst the local neighbourhood after it was discovered that the bags of rubbish dumped contained tonnes of asbestos waste.

One local resident reported that the truck appeared on the road back in March 2018.

He says that despite the truck being an eyesore, the main issue is that it’s causing a hazard for local pedestrians and drivers.

Wishing to remain anonymous, he said, “I told the council from day one it’s asbestos. Every now and then at about 1am a van turns up and dumps more rubbish onto it.”

“My gardener hit his head on it so now I’m livid. He came in here swearing at me – I said it’s not my fault!”

“My concern is if a pushbike comes down it will ride right into it. We got up on Saturday morning a sofa had been dumped on it.”

“For the best part of six weeks we have had to pick stuff off the ground – but I’ve told the council I’m not doing it any more. The council are saying it’s not dangerous – but it’s parked near the corner of the road. If a motorbike comes round the corner too fast they could hit it.”

The city council commented on the abandoned truck saying, “If there are no health or hazard concerns re asbestos then it’ll be a case of us going through due process for vehicles reported as abandoned as there are no parking restrictions on that road.”

The DVLA commented, “We are taking action against the owner. If we find that a vehicle is untaxed we issue an £80 Late Licensing Penalty to the keeper (reduced to £40 if paid within 33 days) and the keeper would need to pay the back duty in tax.”

“If the untaxed vehicle is seen on the road we can also send an Out of Court Settlement letter. The amount of the settlement is based on the amount of arrears owed and whether the vehicle was declared off the road with DVLA.”

“Also, as part of their day-to-day enforcement DVLA’s national wheel clamping partner, NSL, goes to different areas of the country and can clamp or impound any untaxed vehicles seen on the road.”

Source article.

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Published May 29, 2018