Merton Council handed out more fly-tipping fines than nearly every other local authority in 2016/17.

This comes as online furniture store, Furniture Choice, released a list of the English councils most affected by the rubbish nightmare.

During the year council handed out 5352 fixed penalty notices, fewer than only Waltham Forest (7394) and Ealing (8398).

Council's director of environment and regeneration, Chris Lee said they had a "zero tolerance" approach to fly-tipping.

"In 2017/18 we issued 5,676 fixed penalty notices and prosecuted nearly 400 individuals that littered or fly-tipped our community," he said.

"Deterring people from offending is important, which is why we fine fly tippers the maximum £400 that the law allows.

"Issuing fixed penalty notices to people is just one way we are working to reduce fly tipping in the borough.

"We also support residents to install alley gates and work with the police to ensure waste vehicles have a valid waste carriers licence. Our communications and engagement activities also remind residents of their responsibility to dispose of their waste legally.”

As part of the study Furniture Choice spoke to the British public to find out how they think councils are faring with the issue of fly tipping.

One in eight of those polled admitted to illegally dumping their unwanted waste and more than a quarter (28 per cent) of those who fly-tip don’t realise they are actually breaking the law.

Tom Obbard, director at Furniture Choice, said: “Fly-tipping causes a devastating impact on the environment and is expensive to clear, so it is a major concern that incidents are increasing in England.

“It is great to see that some councils are exercising their new legislative powers and issuing fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping, as hopefully it will deter people from committing the offence. However, more needs to be done on encouraging people to use recycling and donation sites instead of illegally discarding their waste.”