A pensioner has spoken of her fury after fly-tippers dumped asbestos outside her Glasgow home.

Jane Burrell, 69, from Castlemilk, says culprits left large piles of rubbish, building supplies and deadly asbestos just yards from a cycle track used by children on Monday night.

The OAP, who lives directly across from the site, says fly-tippers have been dumping rubbish outside of her property for four years.

Jane, who has lived in her home for 68 years said: "There were 40 sheets of asbestos dumped. It's disgusting.

"It's the first time anything dangerous has been left there, it's really frightening to have it lying out. Kids who live here play at the Cathkin Braes bike track, which is just beside the asbestos. I had to go outside and warn them not to go near it - but there's so much of it everywhere.

"I've taken almost 200 pictures of rubbish being dumped here over the years..

"People are just too lazy to dispose of their waste, or don't want to pay to have it done."

According to the Health and Safety Executive, asbestos still kills around 5,000 workers in the UK each year, which is more than the number of people killed on the road.

Fibres from asbestos can cause serious diseases of the lungs when inhaled. However, they do not affect a person immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything.

Around 20 tradesmen die each week as a result of past exposure. However, asbestos is not just a problem of the past. It can be present today in any building built or refurbished before the year 2000.

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “It is reckless and dangerous to dump material with asbestos in this way. Whoever has been responsible for fly-tipping this waste has committed an environmental crime that has created a risk to public health.

“There is absolutely no excuse for fly-tipping. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure their waste is disposed of appropriately, including when the waste is handled by a third party, such as a contractor.

“We were notified of this incident on Thursday morning and we will seek to have this waste removed by our specialist asbestos team as a matter of urgency.”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/pensioners-fury-after-asbestos-dumped-29294350