BUSINESS owners were sickened when bags of offal were dumped near their premises in the River Darwen.

The offal - edible internal parts of an animal - was dropped on the bank behind Sainsbury's in Taylor Street.

Derek Southward, of garage repair shop Crypton Test Centre, said: "It was when the weather was really hot and there was a really bad smell coming from the river.

"I walked over to check it out and there was a load of offal on the bank. It was obvious that a lot had gone into the river but there was still some dripping down the bank. It was full of chicken skins and was absolutely disgusting."

He added that a pile of tyres were dumped there several weeks ago.

Tony Pollard, of Belgrave Carpets, said: "It's a catch 22 situation because the river does get cleared up but it gets dumped on again. I think it needs monitoring more often."

Coun Karimeh Foster said: "It's disgusting that someone has done this to such an important part of Darwen. I think we need to start a campaign whereby people are encouraged not to dump their waste and anyone who does should be reported to the environmental agency."

Pauline Vaughan, of Friends of the Earth, said: "We would be worried about people using any site as a tip and this has the capacity to really pollute the land. Because of the BSE threat, offal has to be disposed of properly and not dumped in local rivers."

Blackburn with Darwen Council is believed to be investigating the latest incident but was unavailable for comment.

The borough's £1 million 'Thrash the Trash' campaign promises to clean up the borough but there are fears that a new charge on dumping industrial waste could have prompted businesses to dump elsewhere.