PILES of rubbish dumped around Worcestershire are not presents from Father Christmas but appear they could be people clearing out unwanted belongings before they receive this year's gifts.

Everything but the kitchen sink appeared to have been abandoned on Half Key Lane, near Leigh Sinton, this week.

And in Welland a washing machine was flytipped seemingly still containing some washing.

Over in Evesham a hotspot for flytippers hit a new low when a dead dog was discovered left in a bag in a field, off the Broadway Road on the outskirts of the town.

Jon Dimond, of Wyld's Lane in Worcester, spotted the latest rubbish in Half Key Lane.

He said: "I just saw it and thought that is disgusting. It looked like someone had their bath room remodelled and dumped the old stuff. It looked like a whole truck load.

"It was partially in the road when I went past it. It does happen there one a smaller scale quite often but that's the first time I have seen a whole lot of stuff there."

Gordon Morris, street scene manager at Malvern Hills District Council, said: "We are aware of this fly-tip and have already started clearing it so that the road is now open for traffic. We anticipate that the remainder of this fly-tip will be cleared on Friday (19 December)."

It followed complaints by James Eagle, on Garrett Bank, who lives opposite Woodside Lane, Welland, another hotspot for flytipping. In November the road was covered with rubbish just strewn across the lane.

The latest rubbish, a washing machine, was discovered on Wednesday morning.

Mr Eagle said: "It just seems so pointless. We are just down the road from Upton tip."

Mr Morris said they were concerned flytippers had returned to the lane. "This further flytipping in Welland is of great concern to us given it has happened near here so recently.

"We will investigate it and if we are able to identify the culprit we will take action against them.

"It continues to sadden us that flytipping blights our towns and villages.

"Where there is evidence we will investigate and take action against the culprits."

In Evesham a field off the Broadway Road has become a site for dumping bags of rubbish, usually filled with wires and cables.

Resident Bill Heath, who owns a nearby caravan site, said: "People have been dumping a lot of rubbish in there, trimming from electrical cables, things like that.

"I noticed there was a new bag there, instead of the wires there's a dead dog and it's a fighting dog, a Pit Bull.

"I felt awful looking at this poor old dog. I should think it's been there a few days."

Flytipping is on the increase in South Worcestershire with across Worcester, Wychavon and Malvern there were 1,203 incidents in 2013/14, but just 50 people were caught for it with Wychavon District Council the only authority handing out fines or securing prosecutions.

Councillor Andy Roberts, cabinet member for environment, said: "We can't possibly put enough feet on the ground to deal with this, people have got a real part to play on the ground.

"The other thing I'd say is, be aware when people knock on your door and say 'we'll take stuff away', because items may be traced back to their original owners and in some cases they're the people who can get punished."