Yahoo News 'I've been complaining about this for years... now I can't walk'
A man says he's has been left 'unable to do anything' after he snapped his leg after slipping on fly-tipped rubbish dumped at his back gate. Peter Taylor, from Middleton, claims he has been complaining about the issue for years.
The 53-year-old was hospitalised for four nights and needed surgery to insert a metal leg into his leg after his fall. He will be unable to walk for up to six months, and has hit out at Riverside Housing, which owns the land, and Rochdale council, saying they have ignored his complaints since 2020.
Peter says he has been left 'annoyed' and 'unhappy' by the ordeal outside his home, which he feels could have been avoided. Riverside Housing said it was 'sorry' to hear of Peter's injury, adding it was 'conducting a full investigation'.
He has now been told he has to endure a six-month recovery period, and has ended up with a metal rod and three screws inserted into his leg.
"It all goes back to 2020, when I first contacted Rochdale council about fly-tipping at the bottom of my garden," he said. "It's a bit secluded down there, so people think it's a nice little area to dump all their garbage. It was attracting rats and things."
Peter says nothing came of his initial attempts to get the rubbish removed. He says he then contacted the council again when the fly-tipping resumed in April.
After waiting several weeks for action to be taken, Peter says he then went on the Rochdale council website and reported it as a fly-tipping offence. He says he was told the land belongs to Riverside Housing, and that they had been made aware of the complaint. The next day - on May 21 - Peter said he received an email from Riverside saying someone would be in contact within seven working days.
But on May 30, Peter said he his house via his back gate and noticed even more rubbish dumped. He returned later to clear it away from his garden, and slipped on a piece of wood left outside.
"I fell and heard my leg snap," he recalled. "I'm not happy at all. I had to go to A&E. I've never been in hospital before. I thought I'd just have to go and get a cast, but they told me I had to have surgery, so that wasn't pleasant."
Peter ended up staying in hospital for four days. Surgeons made three incisions in his leg, inserting a metal rod and three screws.
"They said it's up to six months to recover, so I'm living downstairs at the moment," he told the M.E.N. "I'm annoyed. We had tickets to see The Eagles, it was for our anniversary and our tickets were row two but now I've ended up in the disabled area in row 24.
"I can't leave the house. I can't take the dog out for a walk. I can't go anywhere or do anything."
A spokesperson for Riverside said: “We are very sorry to hear that Mr Taylor has experienced an injury and would like to wish him a speedy recovery. We are currently conducting a full investigation and are unable to provide further comment at this stage.”
Rochdale Borough Council declined to comment.
