The council released this image of a man dumping asbestos in Upminster

Havering Council received a tip-off on Twitter about a troublesome tipper.

On its @LBofHavering account last Friday, the council posted a CCTV image of a man dumping rubbish in Little Gerpins Lane, Upminster, along with the text: “Can you help us find this fly tipper? This pile of rubbish includes asbestos and will cost over £500 to clear up.”

Cabinet member for environment Cllr Barry Tebbutt this week said, as a result of the Twitter appeal, the council had received some information that was being investigated.

“Putting a CCTV picture of the suspected fly-tipper onto Twitter was a new way for us to clamp down on offenders,” he said.

“If we catch this offender, we will prosecute them because we don’t like people dumping their rubbish in our lovely borough. We won’t hesitate to use Twitter again, or any other means at our disposal, to track down similar offenders. The message is clear – you won’t get away it, so don’t do it!”

Cllr Tebbutt added asbestos dumping around Havering was a “small but increasing problem”.