Thornton Heath Job Centre has been sent a bill by the council for removing a fly tip which had been sat outside their premises for over a month.

The council was told the rubbish which was mainly bags of clothes would be removed from the front of the government agency’s prominent driveway by its contractor. 

For weeks residents complained about the visible mess on the land which is owned by Crown Estates. Council staff, Thornton Heath Cllr Karen Jewitt and Cabinet lead for Clean Green Croydon Stuart Collins were all assured the dumped rubbish would be removed.

The deadline passed and it was still there.The driveway was gritted on a weekend when the building was empty but STILL the bags weren’t removed. 

Finally, the council instructed Veolia to remove the rubbish and pass on the bill but no fine because its private land.

Cllr Collins went out of his way to try and resolve the issue but it’s still the tax payer that will ultimately be footing the bill. 

Cllr Collins said: “I have the name of the Job Centre Manager and have just spoken to our Director who will write today re the public anger and our anger at their promise not being kept. Although we can’t discipline their staff the letter will be expecting action to be taken.”

A week later another business, came under the spotlight. A  dumped cardboard box with its address scratched out was dumped on Nutfield Road.It denied being responsible. A Neighbourhood Safety Officer then went through the waste and found correspondence and returned with the proof and reportedly issued a fine. Despite this ten days later the same fly tip was still there! More complaints and it was finally removed!