RESIDENTS fed up with having their town plagued by litter louts and fly tippers are hitting back.

Figures show more people are using a telephone hotline to report those who dump rubbish across Middlesbrough.

Councillor Bob Kerr, Middlesbrough Council's executive member for the environment, said: "Litter droppers and fly tippers cost Middlesbrough £2m a year.

"Everyone knows that money could be better spent improving the town, rather than clear up after people trashing their environment.''

A council report reveals that 18,000 fly tips were cleared over the 12 months to March, of which 14,000 were spotted and collected by the council's rapid reaction team.

The other 4,000 were reported by members of the public using the council's customer relationship management telephone number (01642) 726001.

Coun Kerr said: "These figures show tremendous vigilance and I am also pleased that increasing numbers of people are reporting nuisances.

"They can rest assured that we will follow up every call."

A man from Eston was recently fined £100 with £250 costs after dumping building rubbish on open land in Middlesbrough.

Cleansing officers traced him after finding envelopes with his name and address on.

Coun Kerr said: "Between April and March 2004, we had ten successful prosecutions for fly tipping and similar offences and the number of requests for dealing with rubbish and litter went up from 1,700 to 2,000 - and we dealt with three quarters in one working day.''

Over the same period, fly posting dropped 95 per cent.

"Between 2003 and 2004 we found and removed 18,800 illegal posters,'' Coun Kerr said. "This year the number has gone down to 882.

"The success with the fly posters shows how much hard work, a firm line and co-operation with the community can solve a great environmental nuisance.

"We are sure we can do the same thing with litter dropping and fly tipping.''

A third of all fly tips in Middlesbrough were removed from back alleys. Data on Middlesbrough's fly tipping problem is fed into a national database, which highlights the problem fly tipping causes across the country.