A man with an Asbo is now in a row with council officials and neighbours after dumping a sofa in the street.

Leslie Belcher claims he was forced to leave the sofa on the pavement because Oxford City Council officials had not picked it up.

But his complaint has drawn little sympathy from some neighbours who accuse him of blighting the area.

The 50-year-old, who lives in Magdalen Road, East Oxford, said he had been phoning the council once a week for more than a month to get the sofa removed.

But the council said it had only one record of Belcher phoning the council, and that was on Wednesday.

Belcher’s two-year Asbo, handed to him in October 2010, bans him from drinking in public, congregating with anyone other than his family in Magdalen Road or the front garden of 44 Magdalen Road, and using intimidating language or behaviour.

Belcher told the Oxford Mail he was “disgusted”

the council had not picked up the sofa.

He said: “They have been asked to pick it up and they have not done it.

“I have phoned the city council four times in the last four and half weeks.

“What do people pay their council tax for?”

He added: “I did not really want to put it out there but I was forced to.”

He said he put the sofa in the street on Monday.

But a 45-year-old Magdalen Road resident, who did not want to be named, said: “It brings down the area and gives an awful negative impression of us all.”

The man, who has lived in the area since 1999, said he was considering selling his house because of the problems.

He said: “He is well known in this area. We are desperate for him to get moved on.”

Resident Steve Williams, 35, said: “The sofa is obstructing the pavement and it is a health and safety issue because it is causing people to walk into the road.”

But Claire Gilmour, 25, said: “It is fairly harmless. Considering there is a shop being gutted and a building site nearby, it is not a problem.”

But she said there were better ways of removing the sofa, such as using recycling websites.

Tony Bywaters, 47, said: “I can see his argument, but we have no trouble with the rubbish collection here so I do not understand why it has not been collected.

“We quite often leave large objects outside the house and the council has picked them up.”

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “We can only find one record on our system that this resident contacted us and that was on Wednesday.

“We had informed him that we would collect his items on September 21.”

Belcher walked free from court in January when he was given an absolute discharge after admitting possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.

The court heard he pointed a ballbearing gun into another man’s face.

The judge said his victim “thoroughly deserved” to be frightened.

Each household in Oxford city is entitled to two free collections of bulky goods by the council a year.