BIN bags, carrier bags, video tapes and gas canisters were dumped outside the fire exit of a medical centre by fly-tippers.

The rubbish — which also attracted rats to the outside of the building — was dumped outside the 3D Medical Centre in Deane Road at the start of the month — but was only cleared two weeks later.

Bosses at the Deane medical centre say they reported the mess to Bolton Council on November 4 — but council chiefs said they were only made aware that the rubbish was blocking a fire exit last week.

The council had originally planned to deal with the fly-tipping as part of its regular three-weekly clean-up of the area — but sent workers to clear the area on November 21 as soon as they were made aware of the fire risk.

Rasmita Lakhman, the centre’s practice manager, said the council should have collected the rubbish sooner.

She said: “We reported the rubbish on November 4 and nothing was being done — it was getting ridiculous.

"We were getting infestations inside and outside the centre and we have had to have pest experts out to get them away.

“It’s not just the once. We have had these problems before — people have fly-tipped their rubbish a few times.”

A council spokesman said: “We received a call from the centre on November 20 reporting a fly-tip blocking the fire exit to the centre, and it was removed first thing on November 21.

“In this area the cleansing teams visit every three weeks but if the issue with the blockage of the fire door had been raised on the initial report, we would have taken this into account, and not allocated the removal of the flytip to the next scheduled clean-up.”