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Tired of watching homeowners, the council starts spying on its binmen

As reported by the Ormskirk Advertiser today:

A binman from Ormskirk says he has been taken off his round of 34 years as ‘punishment’ for taking waste left at the side of wheelie bins. Albert Stewart, 60, of Scarisbrick Street, works as a refuse collector for West Lancashire Borough Council.

He told the Advertiser: “I have done the same round in Aughton for over 30 years, and just because I took some side waste, I’m being punished – they’ve taken me off my round.

“They weren’t just people I took rubbish from – they were my friends too.”

Wheelie_bin Of course, according to West Lancashire Borough Council, binmen should only empty wheelie bins and must leave other rubbish dumped beside the bins behind. Therefore, Albert has committed a heinous violation.

And why, might we ask, do they enforce this law? Well, householders caught leaving rubbish outside wheelie bins can be fined an initial Fixed-Penalty Notice of £100, which if they refuse to pay can go up as high as £1,000.

This case is a sad indictment of Britain as we enter a new decade. A man who has committed no real offence, used his commonsense, done a little favour for families, and has actually helped foster a nicer environment in his area, is punished because the council has enforced pointless, pathetic rules designed to hit the law-abiding citizen in the pocket.

The state needs to take its nose out of our bins and its hands out of our pockets.

Big Brother Watch also wants to see the council reinstate Albert to his usual route as soon as possible.

By Dylan Sharpe 

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Home
  • http://www.madrid-uno.com M1

    Here in Madrid we have three rubbish collections daily. First, the gippoes come along at about 2200hrs and strip what is put out as rubbish for anything they can sell – paper, metals, plastics, all sorts of broken items, then the official binmen come, approx 2300 hrs, and take whats left, then the cleaners come ’round (midnight) and sweep up any detritus. Result: Spanking clean streets every day.
    Imagine that: the English are dirtier than the daygos.

  • Biffo

    Yes, I’ve got family living in Valencia (Spain) & the rubbish collection is fantastic – at least daily (maybe more) pickups. They even hose down some/all? of the streets overnight & the city is sparkly clean each morning.
    Good luck to Albert & hope he gets his job back. Perhaps we should all email his Council? Councils hate publicity.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/rupertmatthews RupertMatthews

    Utterly bizarre, but not very surprising. Our bin men are pretty good at picking up extraneous rubbish and took everything away this week despite the Christmas overload.

  • tidy bin

    nah – to save tax – we should not be generating more rubbish that a binful – shame on anyone who puts out more rubbish than that. What about recycling all the bulkier items?
    I say fine people who put out too much rubbish!

  • steve ish

    What is the council leaders e-mail address?
    direct democracy, let’s stand up for us for a change! There is a vast groundswell of people now standing up against this state control. The council work for us! let’s get Albert his job back… swamp them. shame them

  • Ron Lamb

    These councils are (supposed) to be run by people we elect – why are they not doing their job of protecting the member of their local communities from the over active officals who think they are God’s Gift to the peasants who live in the area
    They are now very highly paid – sorry that should read non-taxed expenses for doing what? and council officals paid telephone numbers and gold plated pensions

  • Trev

    We don’t seem to be troubled by the council but then I don’t step far outside their guidlines. We always suffer at Bank Holiday time though. We are normally a Thursday collection but in any week with a Bank Holiday we don’t know when they are coming. This Christmas, with the bad weather as well, we didn’t have a collection for two and a half weeks and the rubbish remained out for over a week because you don’t know if they might break with tradition and not start from the beginning again and miss us out. Just when you have tons of rubbish, they miss a week.
    I know that other countries seem to be collecting rubbish all the time and hosing the streets down. Where does all the money and water come from, especially where it never seems to rain! Yes, jonny foriegner has stole a march on us. Bravo the helpful Binman!

  • Victor Ward

    Do what I do, burn it in my back garden in the incinerator! Hang on, isn’t that banned as well? You could always go round to the local council offices and place it in the bins outside and perhaps, when they are full, place it around the bins. They would soon get the message!