A PUBLIC-SPIRITED man who tried to take rubbish he picked up by the side of the road to a tip was turned away – because it didn’t belong to him.

Steve Bewers, of Milton Abbas, drove to his local council offices where contractors collected the two discarded television sets. They are believed to have taken them back to the same tip.

Dorset County Council said because the TVs were fly-tipped waste they could not be deposited by a resident at a household recycling centre.

Window cleaner and dad-of-two Mr Bewers, 51, who also volunteers for the National Trust, said he was shocked by the rules.

He explained how he was driving on the A357 near Blandford when he saw the sets dumped in a layby. He decided to take them to the household recycling centre in Blandford.

Mr Bewers mentioned to a worker at the site how he had found them and was then turned away as they were not from his own household.

He said: “I was incredulous. I have got a sense of humour but I just thought it was ridiculous. It’s pointless bureaucracy getting in the way of trying to do a simple good turn.”

Mr Bewers took the sets to the North Dorset District Council offices in Blandford.

He said: “A woman said if I could just leave them she would have a couple of guys come and collect them. Presumably they just put them in a back of a van and took them to the same tip I’d just come from.

“How much did it cost for those two guys to come up to the council offices and take the rubbish back to the same place, when I would have done it for free?”

Head of waste management at Dorset County Council Steve Burdis said: “Household recycling centres are for local people to deposit their own household waste.

“Fly-tipping is a criminal offence and we urge concerned residents to report any incidents of fly-tipped waste on public highways or public land to their local district or borough council.

“The council will then arrange for the removal of the waste as soon as possible and investigate the site for evidence and take appropriate legal action.”

Mr Burdis added: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused to the resident but fly-tipped waste is not legally considered household waste.”