A family's plans to build their home have been put on hold after a van-load of rubbish was dumped on the building site.
Construction on the land in Peacehaven has been thrown into chaos after fly‑tippers dumped a huge pile of rubbish on the family's construction site, forcing work to stop and leaving landowner Mary Elyas with a hefty clean‑up bill.
The experience has left Ms Elyas and her family distressed and angry.
She said: “We just want to live in peace, we don’t know these people, they’ve just dumped their rubbish on us.
“I’m just fed up.”
CCTV captured the van's arrival and two men offloading its contents, which included an industrial fridge.
Ms Elyas, whose family moved to the UK from Sudan in 1992, owns the plot on the edge of Peacehaven, where planning permission has been granted for a three‑bedroom bungalow.
Work had begun on the site when a van driver allegedly pushed aside the metal gate at around 7pm on June 23 and drove in to offload a large quantity of mixed waste.
Ms Elyas says they now face a bill of between £600 and £700 to remove the rubbish.
They had already paid their contractor in advance, she said, but have been forced to down tools while the rubbish remains in place.
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Every day the site sits idle, she fears they are losing potentially thousands of pounds in labour and materials, with the entire project now on hold until they've saved up enough money to start again.
The delay has left them worried that their planning permission could expire before they are able to restart building, undermining all their work to secure consent and prepare the plot.
The incident has been reported to the police and Lewes District Council, which has launched an investigation, but for now the family are the ones picking up the pieces.
Sussex Police has been approached for further information.
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