GLASGOW has been dubbed the UK’s fly-tipping capital.

A freedom of information (FOI) request revealed the city had seen 16,017 reports of illegal dumping in 2020.

A total of 4736 cases occurred in the first quarter of the year, with the 11,281 incidents being reported since lockdown restrictions began.

The figures indicate a rise of around 30% between 2015 and 2019, with a total of 16,817 and 20,082 incidents reported respectively.

It comes after a mass of tyres and rubbish was ditched near a supermarket in Drumchapel.

As previously reported, the eyesore cost Glasgow City Council a staggering £10,000 to clear as specialist environmental officers had to be called in to tackle the issue.

Read more: Drumchapel tyre dump costs taxpayers £10K to clear

The area’s councillor Paul Carey said: “It come as no surprise that Glasgow is now the fly-tipping capital of UK.

“We have seen shameful pictures of bulk being dumped all over the city since bulk uplift has been suspended.

“Everywhere you look in this city you see fly-tipping. I fear a lot of this will be used for rogue bonfires.”

Mr Carey warned the issue could become “much worse” without the “immediate” reintroduction of the bulk uplifts service and the potential for a charge to be made in order to have the service carried out.

He added: “Without intervention, we will go from the fly-tipping capital of the UK to being one of the contenders for the fly-tipping capital of Europe – and all of this is happening in middle of a pandemic.”

Read more: Drumchapel fly tipping hotspot plagued by massive tyre dump

The FOI, which was carried out by clothing retailer Tog24, requested information from 400 local authorities throughout the UK.

It revealed the majority of councils had recorded a rise in fly-tipping since the pandemic began and many waste collections were scrapped.

Conservative councillor Thomas Kerr said: “The city is racking up all the wrong accolades under this SNP administration.

“Anyone walking the waste-laden streets of Glasgow knows that the scourge of fly-tipping is getting out of control, but we’ve yet to hear a peep on how they plan to address this crisis.

Glasgow Times: Councillor Thomas Kerr Councillor Thomas Kerr

“Unfortunately with the council’s bulk uplift provisions suspended for the foreseeable future, despite Glasgow Conservative councillors passing a motion calling for its safe return to be made a priority, as well as SNP plans to introduce a charge for the city’s residents to access the service, I can only see this problem getting worse.”

The city’s Tory councillors petitioned the council to resume the service.

A spokesman for the local authority confirmed it would reintroduce the service as soon as it was deemed safe to do so.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “Fly-tipping is blatant anti-social behaviour that undermines communities and places a significant drain on our resources, both in terms of collection and disposal.

“People have a basic responsibility to dispose of their waste appropriately at all times to protect our shared environment and the taxpayer’s pound.

“We will always pursue any evidence against those responsible for fly-tipping and seek to take appropriate action against them.

“It should be noted that in Glasgow large, bulky items put out for collection can be mistaken for fly-tipping while other forms of littering can also be reported as fly-tipping.”