OLD fridges, freezers and furniture are being cleared away from the streets of two Southampton communities in a major clear-up blitz this week.

The council's SMART team is in Lordshill and Lordswood removing bulky items dumped by lazy householders.

It is part of Southampton City Council's Crime and Reduction Environment Week backed by the Daily Echo.

All week the eight members of the council's reactive team will be in the area removing graffiti, bulky items and clearing sites used for fly-tipping.

Today and on Friday Terry Beesley and Aku Hussain will once again go on their round to pick up dumped bulky rubbish.

They started their clean-up operation yesterday in Salerno Road and Taranto Road, where they picked up two old fridges, bits of tatty wooden furniture and a broken pram.

Neighbourhood wardens collected all the rubbish, which was mainly left in the communal drying area next to the flats.

The city's cleansing enforcement officer Chris Watters said: "People will dump anything - absolutely anything.

"It is mostly run of the mill things like fridges and old furniture."

Chris is responsible for making sure the city's streets remain tidy and he is determined that any dumped bulky items are cleared up immediately.

"It's like the broken window syndrome. If you don't repair it straight away the problem gets worse.

"With rubbish, people will still keep dumping things if it's not cleared away so the problem continues."

Every week the Smart team fills each of its two 7.5 ton lorries with items that should be taken to the council's tips in Albert Road North, Southampton and Grange Road, Netley.

People who are caught leaving their rubbish in the street can be given a £50 fixed penalty fine.

Alternatively they can be fined up to £2,500 depending on how much mess they leave.

If you have bulky household waste you would like to get rid of but cannot travel to the tip, call Southampton City Council's Action Line on 0800 519 1919.