COUNCIL bosses are trying to track down the gang responsible for a major fly-tipping incident on a rural North Yorkshire lane.

Between 200 and 300 tyres were dumped in the picturesque spot at Heslington, near York - leaving the local council with a clean-up bill of almost £600.

Now the City of York Council is appealing for information about the incident, which took place on the weekend of October 20.

It is the first time for a number of years that the authority has had to deal with fly-tipping on this scale and it is thought to have been carried out by either a rogue scrap dealer or organised criminals.

Environment and enforcement manager Jackie Armitage said: "We wanted to make the public aware of this incident so that residents can help us to look out for this type of behaviour, particularly as it happened on a public right of way.

"Anyone who witnesses a fly-tip should contact the council with registration details of the vehicle involved and as much information as possible about what they have witnessed."

She added: "The fact that someone has fly-tipped on this scale in a relatively unknown location suggests the culprit is familiar with the local area."

A anyone with information is asked to contact the authority on 01904-551551.

*Figures from DEFRA show that fly-tipping is costing councils thousands of pounds of year - the estimated clean-up costs for York last year were around 182,000 when the authority dealt with around 1,700 separate fly-tipping incidents.