A gym owner claims an area of wasteland close to his gym has become a "constant problem".
Mike Garner, owner of Evolution Fitness in St Helens said he is "fed up" of fly tipping behind his business, which the 38-year-old claims is negatively affecting his gym, as well as the wider area. Among the dumped rubbish is large amounts of drug paraphernalia, including used syringes.
Beyond the health risk from used needles however, the piles of waste on Duncan Street have been set alight twice in the past month, resulting in huge blazes which sparked large emergency responses. Mike told the ECHO: "We've put hundreds of thousands of pounds into this gym, and to have this dumping ground behind is just terrible.
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"There are used needles and empty drug bags dumped behind there daily, and tyres have been set on fire twice in the past couple of weeks. It's just a constant problem."
Three fire engines were first called to a blaze on Duncan Street, St Helens after a "large quantity of tyres and waste material" caught fire at about 8.40pm on Friday, January 6. A second fire broke out on January 27, also involving a pile of tyres, a fire service spokesperson said: "On arrival, crews found a pile of tyres in the open well alight."
Mike claims he has been in touch with the council regularly, but with little luck on clearing the land, as it is privately owned. He added: "We’re fed up of being the unpaid caretakers for the property now. Twice within one month, the property has been on fire, and twice it’s the gym and local residents have been inconvenienced by it.
"If our staff were not as prompt when acting on this reoccurring situation, then a lot more people would be affected."
An Environment Agency Spokesperson said: “We take illegal waste activity very seriously and will take the necessary action to prosecute those responsible. As we are currently investigating this site, for legal reasons are unable to comment further until that investigation is complete.“
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