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Angry residents were threatened with £50,000 fines before CCTV footage revealed a refuse collector lifting rubbish out of bins and dumping it in an alleyway.

Shocking footage was recorded as the binmen carried out a fortnightly 9am visit in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

The clip shows two workers in an alley, wheeling away dustbins to be emptied.

However, before taking the bins away one of the workers can be clearly seen lifting the lids on at least four bins, taking a full bin bag and dumping them leaving behind a huge pile of rubbish.

(Image: Oldham Chronicle / MEN)

Another CCTV video then shows Oldham Council workers arrive at the alleyway three days later, search the contents of the bin bags to find which home they came from, before putting a sticker on them to warn whoever is responsible they could be fined up to £50,000.

Resident Zed Liaqat caught everything on the CCTV cameras at the rear of his house in the Glodwick area.

He said: "For at least a year now we have had an issue with rubbish bags being dumped in the alleyway.

"There is always a pile of them there, cars drive over them because it is quite a busy passageway and the bags end up splitting and rubbish flies everywhere.

(Image: Oldham Chronicle / MEN)

"For all this time I, along with fellow residents, assumed it was one of our neighbours and it has actually caused a bit of tension because we thought someone was doing this on their own doorstep.

"I saw council workers inspecting the bags so I decided I would get to the bottom of it and find out who is doing this.

"When I watched it I was gobsmacked, it was a bin man.

"You would have never thought it would be the people who are supposed to take the rubbish away.

"The bins were hardly overflowing either, the lids were just slightly ajar. As a community we are shocked, something has to be done about this."

(Image: Oldham Chronicle / MEN)

Mr Liaqat uploaded some of the footage to Facebook and it has been watched thousands of times.

A number of residents commented on the post to say they have been sent letters informing them they are believed to be implicated in the "dumping of bin liners containing household waste".

Adnan Islam, who also lives on Park Road, revealed how his dad received one of these letters last week regarding rubbish found in the alley back on December 22, 2014.

The letter invites him to attend a taped interview at the Oldham Council offices which could lead to the matter being dealt with at Oldham Magistrates Court.

Mr Islam told the Oldham Chronicle: "This has really worried my dad. The letter mentions court and says he will be arrested if he doesn't attend the interview.

(Image: Oldham Chronicle / MEN)

"After watching the video I have no doubt this is why my dad has been accused.

"We were baffled when we were sent the letter because dumping rubbish is disgusting so to be accused of it when you know you haven¹t done anything wrong is devastating.

"We are a close community here so we were also left worrying what other people might think.

"When I saw the video I was stunned. We take pride in our area so we want answers."

Local resident Shariz Kahn said: "I have complained to the council about the state of our alley many times, hopefully now there is evidence that it is not us making the mess something can be done."

(Image: Oldham Chronicle / MEN)

Residents have been in uproar on social media which was noticed by St Mary's councillor Arooj Shah.

Councillor Shah, from her Facebook page, said: "It just makes me sad, the majority work so hard and individuals like these ruin it for everyone."

Helen Lockwood, Oldham Council's executive director for co-operatives and neighbourhoods, said: "Thank-you for bringing this incident to our attention.

"A significant amount of time and resource is being spent tackling issues around fly-tipping to change behaviours and to support the responsible majority of residents who care about their local area.

"That means we need to work in partnership with communities and our staff must also lead by example.

"We are taking this matter extremely seriously and investigating it. We will not hesitate to take appropriate disciplinary action, where necessary."