Express Mortgages Express Loans Bingo Lose Weight Franchising Dating Shopping Book Shop Find Spare Parts Cut Your Bills Wine Shop Legal Store FlatShare Cruises

HAVE YOUR SAY

WE CAN'T EMPTY YOUR BIN

Yet another rubbish rule

Thursday August 14,2008

By Jo Wiley

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(49)

RESIDENTS have been warned rubbish will not be collected if they put their wheelie bins more than a footstep away from the kerb.

The ruling by council bosses means people who inadvertently place their rubbish in the wrong spot face having it left to rot for another week or fortnight until it is put out “correctly”.

The move means that if bins are to be collected, they must be positioned in the middle of the pavement, blocking the path of pedestrians.

It has been introduced so binmen can reach the rubbish from the road without having to step on the pavement.

The diktat was introduced by the same council which refused to empty wheelie bins if its binmen could not pull them using just two fingers.

Now bins and recycling boxes across West Wiltshire will be ignored if they are found to be more than one metre (3.28ft) from the kerb.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance blamed council “jobsworths”.
Spokesman Corin Taylor said: “It is disgusting that councils are ducking out of their core duties in this way and shocking that councils continue to implement such draconian laws when taxpayers are paying their wages.”

Pensioner Gordon Morris was one of the first victims of the new, so-called “footstep” rule.

For the last 23 years, the 70-year-old has left his bins partially on his driveway to prevent them blocking the pavement.

But last week the bin went uncollected because it was left beyond the one-metre limit.

The grandfather-of-six claims binmen refused to take even the “smallest child’s step” to retrieve it. Mr Morris, of Southwick, Wilts, said neither he or his neighbours were told about the policy, which he claims was introduced by stealth last week.

He said: “How on earth can council jobsworths be so inflexible, so draconian and so stealth-like in their approach?”
Mr Morris, who pays £1,800-a-year in council tax, added: “Now I can either obstruct the pavement alongside a very busy road, or face the prospect of never having my bins emptied again.”

**CLICK HERE TO READ THE DAILY EXPRESS COMMENT ON THIS ISSUE**

**Are bin collection rules a total farce?**

**Is this new rule a load of old rubbish?**

THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, IF THEY CHARGE AND COLLECT COUNCIL TAXES THEY HAVE SOME OBLIGATION TO CLEAR THE RUBBISH

31.08.08, 11:39pm

If the Council charge and collect taxes for clearing the rubbish, they have a molral obligation and duty to clear the same. If they can not do the same, some alternative arrangements should be made with able and willing companies to do the said job for the benefit of residents.
If the Council charge and collect taxes, they have a moral duty and obligation for clearing the rubbish from residents. If they can not do the same, some alternative arrangements should be made with able and willing companies to do the said job for the benefit of residents.

Also encourage some private companies to collect rubbish from a particular area and see how it works and if it is successful necessary action and arrangements should be taken by the concerned authorities to implement the same every where.

• Posted by: MGeorge • Report Comment

WE CAN'T EMPTY YOUR BIN

22.08.08, 5:46pm

If I can take my bin from the back of my house where it normally resides to the kerb fronting my house then there is no excuse for bin men half my age to collect it. Sack the lazy Bas****s, I would be happy to do the job to suppliment my (heavily taxed ) pension,.

• Posted by: ricardo • Report Comment

WE CAN'T EMPTY YOUR BIN

19.08.08, 5:51pm

the person in charge of this decision should be sacked, can he/she not realise this rule will be a health risk/hazard to pedestrians, lets hope there is an accident caused by avoiding these bins stuck in the middle of the kerb and they sue the council for £THOUSANDS and then maybe this **** stupid bin collection can get back to normal weekly collections picked up from the residents property

• Posted by: ledzep • Report Comment

WE CAN'T EMPTY YOUR BIN

18.08.08, 2:54pm

The easy answer is 'we can't pay your poll tax'. There aren't enough places in jail for all the people who could make the gesture of non payment of local taxes. Let the Stasis try to take us all to court for our refusal to pay for services that we are not receiving. They can't put us all in jail.

Me? I'm still trying to get the morons who empty our bins to put them back where they were placed instead of either putting them 20 yards down the road in the middle of someone else's driveway, or throwing them onto the floor. Either way, the same amount of rubbish seems to find its way onto the footpath and the road.

There is no point, either, in complaining to the local Kremlin, because all you will get in return is a letter justifying council policy towards waste disposal. This letter having been written by one of the government's drones, of course.

• Posted by: saracen • Report Comment

WE CAN'T EMPTY YOUR BIN ?.............

17.08.08, 1:02pm

Actualy they can , they are just incapable of doing so .

I was going to add some advice for them ,like 'don't give up your day job' but it appears they already have !

• Posted by: HarriUK • Report Comment

AS WE SAY...

17.08.08, 12:06pm

"Clever, these Chinese." Now that Mao has gone, they need to produce more female babies to balance their population because at the moment, China is overflowing with testosterone, as well as all our rubbish.

• Posted by: Harveymiff • Report Comment