RESIDENTS have given their backing to a campaign to overhaul refuse collection in a North-East town.

The move comes on the day the man at the centre of the rubbish row said he would go to prison rather than pay a £50 fine.

Chris Grainge, of Columbia Street, Darlington, will launch the petition to call for a change to the borough council's refuse disposal policy after being fined £50 for leaving his rubbish out six hours early.

He said: "I'm not laying down. I will stand up in court and tell the judge to send me to prison because the council are not getting a penny out of me."

Mr Grainge said he has as many as six festering bags of waste in his yard each week, which he says will attract rodents.

He said the council should consider supplying wheelie bins.

Meanwhile, other angry residents have come forward, voicing their displeasure at the service being offered by the council.

Richard Devin, a civil servant, said: "We are being held to ransom by this council. They are dictating to us what time we should put the rubbish out, what kind of rubbish we are allowed to put out and where we should put it."

The Northern Echo's website has received a number of comments from readers who felt moved to reply after reading Mr Grainge's story.

One man calling himself Dave, from Durham, said: "This is another perfect example of councils clamping down on soft targets just to make their figures look better when they should be concentrating on the real environmental criminals who blight our towns with fly-tipped rubbish on a daily basis."

In the last financial year, 216 fines were issued for offences similar to Mr Grainge's, 50 of which were cancelled under consideration of the individual's circumstances. 90 of the fines were paid, 60 were taken to court for non-payment and another 16 are awaiting court action for non-payment.

The spokeswoman said: "These figures show that we can cancel fines and are able to take people's personal circumstances into account. However, Mr Grainge has refused to meet with us to discuss the issue.