An Edinburgh shop owner has been left fuming after a pile rubbish was dumped outside her luxury dress shop.
Mette Bailie, 51, owns Edinburgh's Freja Designer Dressmaking on Cumberland Street. On Friday, December 6, her staff turned up to work at 7.30am to find rubbish and cardboard boxes strewn across the street and blocking the door to the shop.
She expressed how disappointed she felt that people had been fly tipping outside her shop and was able to see from the addresses on the empty boxes where some had originated from.
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Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Mette said: "It's disappointing to be greeted with this kind of thing when you come into work.
"This is a beautiful street, I have a beautiful shop and I pay a lot to be here but I've got two giant bins outside and there's still been issues of people fly tipping all the time here. It's just really sad.
"It's irresponsible of people to leave their rubbish for someone else to move. I just don't understand that attitude, I don't understand why people can't tidy up after themselves. It's not that hard!
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"I must admit it has been better but this morning, I think it must have to do with Christmas, and the wind - the boxes had blown up in the front of the door and the staff had to move it all to get in the shop. And that's just not fair. I can see from the address some of them are from round the corner so I just don't understand why they've come and left it all outside my door."
The business owner said that some of her customers have mentioned the rubbish outside her shop, adding that it was 'a shame' because she puts in such an effort to make her windows attractive.
"As I walking through the street, there was so many of those boxes had been put out for recycling, but with the gusts of winds we had they were all over the street - the rubbish was everywhere. It's such a shame, I love this city, Edinburgh has so much to offer, but sometimes you don't notice it because you're too busy having to hop, skip and jump around the rubbish, I just think that's ridiculous."
Mette has had her award-winning dressmaking store in Edinburgh for over 20 years and stresses that what she experienced this morning was not the fault of the council.
"It's on the individual. The bins weren't even full! I know it's not good to put cardboard in the general waste but that's better than out of the street. There are recycling points too that they can use. I just don't understand why they can't use that or fold the boxes down and recycle them or at least put them in the bin."
The City of Edinburgh Council states fly tipping as dumping anything on public land. It can be anything from a bin bag next to a bin to a mattress or garden waste on the street or in a park - and is illegal.
The Council can also issue fixed penalty notices of £200 for fly tipping. Courts can impose a penalty of up to £40,000 or imprisonment.
You can report flytipping on edinburgh.gov.uk
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