Councillor verbally abused during fly-tipping confrontation

A Tameside councillor has been harrassed after leading efforts to fight fly-tipping in his ward.

Cllr Kaleel Khan, an independent who represents Ashton St Peters, was confronted on Friday September 13 by a man in his 20s as he took photos of a ‘contaminated’ bin on Bentinck Street. 

“He started yelling at me and seemed intent on causing trouble. His argument didn’t make much sense, and it was clear he didn’t have much insight into his own anger.  

“He knew I was a Councillor and deliberately came over to shout abuse at me. It was obvious he didn’t like that I was working to clean up the area and wanted to stop me from doing my job.  

“The confrontation lasted about 15 minutes, and it felt like he was deliberately trying to sabotage my efforts to tackle fly-tipping. 

“I took a picture of him, and through the neighbourhood watch scheme, I was able to track down who his family is. Sadly, he’s from the Pakistani community, just like myself and he probably didn’t know at the time that I know of his family. 

“You can draw your own conclusions as to why he tried to sabotage my efforts to tackle the fly-tipping problem.” 

After the incident, volunteers on the fly-tipping patrol decided to wear body cameras for their own safety. 

The group is also installing more CCTV cameras, including one on Bentinck Street, as part of their Neighbourhood Community Safety Plan that aims to eradicate dumped rubbish from the area.