AN ENVIRONMENT campaigner was horrified to see a whole bathroom, including bath and toilet, lying in a beck at North Skelton this week. They had been carried 600 yards from the nearest road.

The discovery was made by James Windross, 20, a postman of Skelton when he was walking his dog along the lane, which is know both as Dorman Way and Cleveland Street.

"It's outrageous," said Ian Johnson, of the 12-strong Action North Skelton group, before he rang Redcar and Cleveland Council to complain.

"I've never seen such a mess. Someone must have installed a new bathroom and dumped the old one up the lane by the village's football pitch. No wonder it's called Mucky Lane."

Mr Johnson, a pensioner, of Saltburn Lane, Skelton, said he had just been reading Bill Bryson's articles on "What a filthy nation" condemning both litterbugs and fly-tippers.

Mr Bryson, chancellor of Durham University, is president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England which last week launched a three-year campaign called Stop the Drop.

The council's cabinet member for the environment, Coun Sylvia Szintai, was appalled and said attempts would be made to find evidence about who was responsible.

The council successfully prosecuted 68 flytippers last year, more than any other Tees Valley authority. It tackled a total of 4,305 incidents, which cost £352,972 to clean up.

Council workmen are planning how to remove the bath, toilet and cistern which appeared to have been thrown down a 20-ft drop into the beck and were stuck at a 45 degree angle, 600 yards from the nearest road, between Stanghow Road, Skelton and near St Peter's Church.

They may have to abseil down and haul up the goods by rope.

Coun Szintai added: "We are quite simply telling fly-tippers that if they dump their rubbish in our borough we will prosecute them.

"I would encourage anyone who sees someone flytipping to take a photograph and report it immediately.

"The reintroduction of a free junk job service has also seen a reduction in the amount of furniture dumped in alleyways. We are now collecting over 400 jobs a week."

The council's new complaints phone number is 01642-774774.