Hear, hear to David Ellis's views on beggars, travellers and the new, disgusting habit of putting rubbish out in the street in bags instead of using the dustbins (Letters, June 8).

When I walk up my road I am often bowled over by the smell of rotting rubbish emanating from splits in these bags. Rubbish also escapes and blows into my garden and across the street.

If squatters left this filthy mess, there would be an uproar. If these bags appeared outside a centre for asylum seekers, what petitions would be signed, complaints made to the council and questions asked in the House?

I cannot even see why people choose to dump their waste in this way. Surely it is easier to use a dustbin than to lug heavy bags out to the street.

And now we have these marvellous recycling boxes which it is a pleasure to use (thanks, Brighton and Hove City Council, you've got something right this time) there is even less excuse.

It's plain antisocial behaviour and bad citizenship.

The roads are beginning to look like medieval streets, although not in a picturesque way.

At any moment, I expect to hear someone shouting "Gardy-loo" and be deluged by them emptying a potty out of their window.

Please, let's stop this filthy habit before we have a recurrence of the Black Death.

-Eileen Mellors, Ely Drive, Rottingdean