FIVE council tenants who refused to allow Bury Council to service their gas heating appliances will now have to stump up £800 each in costs to the council.

The council had to go to Bury County Court on Tuesday last week to secure injunctions against the five tenants. Bury council has refused to identify the tenants.

At the hearing, injunctions were granted requiring the people concerned to let the council's contractor service the appliances. Each tenant was ordered to pay the council's £800 costs in each case.

A spokesman for the local authority said: "As a landlord we have a legal obligation to service the council's gas appliances in all our homes once a year.

"The vast majority of our tenants allow our contractor to do so, but in a small number of cases we have to take action to ensure that we can meet our legal obligation."

In a separate hearing, an injunction was obtained against a Chesham Fold estate tenant requiring them to bring their garden to an acceptable condition within the next two weeks and to keep it tidy in future.