An elderly couple have been left "angry and astonished" after brazen fly-tippers dumped 80 tyres on their drive.

Hugh Cunningham and his wife Diane made the shocking discovery outside their home in Upper Harbledown, near Canterbury, after returning home from visiting friends on Saturday evening.

They now face a hefty bill to get rid of the mountain of tyres - with Canterbury City Council refusing to remove the mess as it's on private land.

Mr Cunningham, 81, says he was "shocked at how many there was".

"At first I thought there were about 20, however we soon saw there were many more," the retired historian told KentOnline.

"I haven't counted them all exactly, but I think there could be about 80.

"I was angry and astonished when I saw it."

He added: "I was upset - I just thought 'how can someone do that?' How degrading of the environment.

"It's a blemish on the land.

"I hope they never do this again and don't do this to anybody else."

The tyres, which were dumped between 7pm and midnight, lie in front of the Cunninghams' rear drive leading on to Roman Road, and are stopping the gate from opening fully.

It has created "a huge inconvenience" for the pair, who have lived in the village for 42 years.

Mrs Cunningham, 76 said: "It's upsetting, very annoying, a real hassle and will be very expensive to move."

The psychotherapist says fly-tipping is already rife along the road.

"It's all different kinds - we see refrigerators, building supplies, and also just people with Costa cups and bags who obviously just chuck them out the window," she added.

The couple have been told teams from the city council are due to come and assess the situation today.

Local authority spokesman Rob Davies said: "We are aware of this incident and our enforcement officers will be visiting the site to investigate, including checking for any local CCTV and speaking to residents about any information they may have.

"As this is private land, it is for the owner to clear what has been dumped.

"We will actively pursue any evidence we find and prosecute if we possibly can, and in one recent successful court case, we were able to secure £500 in compensation for a landowner who was the victim of a fly-tipping incident."