The managing director of a large builder's merchants says its staff and trading prospects are being put at risk due to flammable fly-tipping in roadside ditches.

Earlier this Summer firefighters spent nearly seven hours battling a huge blaze which engulfed five hectares of marshland next to the River Darent.

In total 20 fire engines and around 125 firefighters were called to the grassland fire on Ray Lamb Way in Erith.

Two commercial warehouses were destroyed and crews rescued 15 people during the blaze on the hottest day of the year on July 19. There were no reports of any injuries and the cause is still under investigation.

But disgruntled businesses claim they have long-warned of flammable fly-tipping along both Ray Lamb Way and Wallhouse Road, leading to the Darent Industrial Estate near Dartford.

They say brazen dumping of fridges, tyres and other items in roadside ditches provides tinderbox conditions and is an almost daily occurrence.

Among the firms to come mere metres away from the flames was Alsford Timber, which is one of the largest independent timber merchants in Kent with branches in Sittingbourne and Tonbridge.

Managing director of the Ness Road site, Neil Fuller says fly-tipping has returned since then and continues to pose huge health and safety problems.

"I have worked for the company now for nearly 15 years and it has got progressively worse and worse," he said.

"The fly-tipping is now encroaching in some places it is so dangerous it is actually forcing lorries and cars to be against the flow of traffic."

The builder's boss added: "The issue you have got is it's a very busy route down to an industrial estate with hundreds of journeys made each day with everything from vans to 44 tonne trucks.

"You've actually got people who walk up and down that road too because they need to walk into work."

Prior to the last huge fire another huge blaze was reported in the marshland and last month crews were called out again to a vehicle found ablaze on the roadside. And previously fly-tipping has also caused flooding problems.

"Environmentally it is a disaster," adds Neil. "We nearly lost our business to the fire in late July due to the fly-tipping catching alight.

"There were fires which in some places were caused by fly-tipping because the heat sets fire to oil and whatever else in the ditches. And that finished within 50 to 100 metres of our branch, our head office.

But just hours after fire crews cleared the fly-tipping that had burn away it had returned yet again, he claimed.

The long-term impact of the dumping is also dampening the merchant's trading prospects and preventing it from recruiting more workers.

Neil added: "From a commercial point of view people do not want to come and work for us and other businesses down that estate.

"I would say we lose around a quarter to a third of applicants. On a Saturday or Sunday people will do a dry run of an evening.

"We nearly lost our business to the fire in late July due to the fly-tipping catching alight."

"They will pass all the fly-tipping and think what on Earth have I got myself in for? Why would I want to work to come and work in this environment? And they just never bother turning up."

The firm has written to their local MP as well as Bexley council and the Environment Agency.

But the maintenance of the private access road, classed as a byway, has been subject to a complicated and long history.

As a byway the council says it does not have responsibilities for the land underneath or alongside the paved surface or the ditches.

Frustrated by a lack of action businesses such as Alsford have decided to take action themselves, investing in their own ANPR camera.

Neil added: "We have been talking to Bexley Council for four to five years to try and prosecute to try and set a standard where hopefully people will not fly-tip around that area and it just hasn't worked."

The firm's financial director Athol Manning added there had been "a lot of buck passing".

"We have had a few meetings and they constantly seem to be arguments between the council, the Environment Agency and the Highways Agency as to whose problem it is," he explained.

"We've passed on two or three dozen videos clearly showing perpetrators dumping the fly-tipping.

"Some are just blatant people on Sunday afternoon clearing up their house."

Mr Manning says a few years ago the council fitted its own cameras over a weekend only for vandals to tear them down a few days later.

"They have promised to fit them again but since then nothing has happened," he added.

More recently ownership of parts of the the land – which the Land Registry had previously reported as being in a pending status – has transferred to the Berkeley Group.

The house-builder intends to bring forward plans for thousands of homes on the site, it is understood.

Timber boss Neil has welcomed the development, adding: "As far as I'm concerned that's great news because they are trying to take this seriously.

"We have had a couple of meetings and they are looking at seriously addressing this problem.

"Is is through bollards? Is it by putting fences up? So it has gone up a level but again it is still happening for the time being. "

Bexley council says over the past 12 months four vehicles have been seized and 31 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) have been issued by council officers as a result of regular patrols.

Jane Parson, a spokeswoman for Bexley council said: "At present the public highway is maintained and cleared on a regular basis, with the land adjacent to the highway under private ownership.

"Unfortunately this land suffers from regular fly-tipping from unlicensed vehicles and waste carriers.

"Council enforcement officers work closely with the Metropolitan Police and will take enforcement action against anyone found to be illegally carrying or disposing of waste.

"These issues are not straightforward to resolve due to the various land ownerships, but the council and landowners have been exploring preventative measures over recent months.

"At present these plans are still under consideration but it is hoped that they will have a positive impact on the level of waste crime in this area."

FPNs for failure to produce a waste carrier license are set at £300 discounted to £180 if paid within 10 days. FPNs are also issue at the same rate for a failure to produce waste transfer notes.

A spokesperson for the Berkeley Group said: “This is a longstanding problem. We are working with representatives of the adjacent Darent Industrial Estate Working Group, LB Bexley Highways, the local ward councillor, the Environment Agency and the Met Police to explore potential solutions to help prevent fly-tipping.”