A woman caught in the act of apparently fly-tipping in broad daylight at the entrance to Helston last week defended herself by saying “everyone does it.”

Osteopath Duncan Scobie, who lives in the town and owns Kernow Pain Clinic, said he questioned the woman after he allegedly caught her tipping rubbish over the side of the layby at Sithney Common Hill.

Writing on Facebook, Mr Scobie said: “I said that it was a disgusting antisocial thing to do, to which she replied everyone did it!

“I suggested I ring the police unless she picked it up. I left her climbing down the slope to where she had thrown it.”

Adding that he hated fly-tipping, Mr Scobie said: “Broad daylight as traffic drove past and [there is] a public tip a mile away. What is the mentality?”

He has since passed a photograph of the woman and her car onto Cornwall Council.

The layby is a known black spot for fly-tipping and the subject of years of debate over what can be done to prevent it.

Last month Helston Town Council was told that Cornwall Council had finally agreed to put CCTV cameras there and that anyone caught fly-tipping would be prosecuted.

However, when councillors questioned whether the cameras had caught this incident they learnt that it had unfortunately not yet been installed.