Piles of rubbish bags had to be ‘offloaded’ from a waste collection vehicle outside a pet shop and former pub in West Reading.
A picture taken by photographer Paul King shows dozens of rubbish bags and other waste being dumped on the site along the A4 Bath Road.
The rubbish was deposited in the car park of the former Horncastle pub, which was converted into a Pets Corner store 10 years ago.
It has been clarified that the waste had to be temporarily offloaded from a Veolia waste vehicle during an emergency.
Staff were reportedly assisted by a crew from the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
The waste was subsequently removed from the site shortly afterwards.
As the rubbish had to be taken out of the waste vehicle during an emergency, the incident has not been classed as fly-tipping.
The Pets Corner store is privately owned, meaning any responsibility for clearing fly-tipping would be the responsibility of the landlord.
The store is located in the Southcote ward of Reading Borough, near the boundary with Calcot in West Berkshire.
People caught fly-tipping can be issued a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) of £1,000, with potential prosecution leading to much higher fines (up to an unlimited amount) and even jail time.
The £1,000 FPN for fly-tipping was introduced last year as part of a crackdown by the council alongside its enforcement partner Kingdom.
The Kingdom team began enforcement in the town in September last year.
