Video and images of dumped London freesheets were released yesterday by News International and DMGT’s Associated Newspapers after each publisher accused the other of failing to give away all the copies printed.

The multimedia tit-for-tat marked an escalation in the already intense competition for London evening readers. Both companies face criticism from councils for saturating the capital with more than 900,000 freesheets every week-day afternoon.

The battle started when Associated Newspapers released video on YouTube showing distributors of News International’s thelondonpaper dumping bundles of the newspaper without trying to hand them out.

That prompted an angry response from News International, the UK parent company of The Times, which accused its rival of a “dirty tricks campaign”. The company released photographs of binned and unread bundles of Associated’s own freesheet, London Lite.

News International conceded that “both companies” have a problem with “isolated rogue distributors” and said that it had offered to work with Associated Newspapers. However, it said that it was disappointed that its rival had “resorted to crude propaganda”.

Associated said that it had released the two-minute video, which has been viewed about 500 times. It added that its investigation suggested that “dumping by thelondonpaper distributors is systematic and widespread”.

The claim and counterclaim came as both publishers try to appease Westminster council. It is unhappy at its failure to persuade both to pay £500,000 for 800 recycling bins aimed at tackling the rubbish generated by discarded freesheets.

News International prints about 500,000 copies of thelondonpaper — 100,000 more than at its launch last year — compared with 400,000 for London Lite.

Meanwhile, Associated’s paid-for London sister title, the Evening Standard, had a circulation of 266,575 in March, down 18 per cent on a year ago, reflecting the impact of the freesheets.

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