Diver slams fly-tippers after piles of rubbish dumped at local beauty spot

Largs man Alan Ringrose, 54, stumbled across the mess in a layby off the A78 near Knock Castle, where he uses the shallow water to dive.

Rubbish scattered along the verge included clothes, large electrical goods, petrol cans and squares of carpet.

Alan slammed the culprits the height and says they are ruining the area for others.

He added: “I parked in the layby and I saw it all just scattered down the hill, there’s all sorts left lying there.

“If I had a bag and gloves in the car I would have cleaned it up myself, but I didn’t have anything suitable to do that unfortunately.

“There’s a bin less than ten yards away, and they could easily have fitted it all in there so why they chose to just dump it is beyond me.

“I’m a marine police officer and if I had caught them doing it I would definitely have reported them for it.”

Alan reveals he was scared to go into the water with the junk floating around, and believes illegal dumping and littering is becoming a growing problem across the area.

He explained: “I test my diving kit in the shallow water next to the layby, and it actually made me not want to go in because I didn’t know what was in there.

“It’s just laziness from those responsible. When I’m out in the police launch I end up pulling loads of plastic out of the Clyde as well.

“It just makes me so angry. There’s a council dump for this sort of stuff at the other side of Largs, but that was clearly even too much effort for these people."

Councillor Ian Murdoch confirmed that the rubbish will be removed by council officers - but fired a stern warning at those responsible.

He said: “I have raised the issue with North Ayrshire Council and it will be removed as soon as possible.

“I would like to thank Alan for bringing this to our attention. It is not acceptable.

"This sort of thing is illegal and carries heavy fines. If we find out who was responsible, they will be pursued."