A woman has been left baffled after a binman dumped her entire £25 dustbin in the back of his lorry because she put out two instead of one.
The homeowner, from Ripley, Derbyshire had ventured out of the house one day to take out some rubbish when she discovered the bin was missing.
After she couldn’t locate it, she assumed the wheelie bin might have been taken by accident by a neighbour or on purpose by some unruly children, but it was only after she checked her neighbour’s CCTV that she discovered what had happened.
The local council said that they were told by contractors that the bin was removed as she’d put two bins out, but she said the second bin had been paid for.
She said that she went out and it had vanished and that she’s got two green bins. They emptied it, put it back, then got back to get it and tossed it in the back of the lorry.
She said that he’d already emptied it first and that it was really quite amusing, but after she laughed about it she was fuming, and that it was a problem because everyone needs a bin.
The incident occurred at about 9.20 am on Friday, April 7. The video, shared by the woman, shows the worker, in a hi-vis orange jacket and trousers, trying to toss the green wheelie bin into the back of the bin lorry.
The bin then slips back out and then he tries a second time to deposit it in the lorry. He successfully does this, and the bin is seen disappearing into the void.
Since then, the woman has emailed the council but did not obtain a reply, nor her £25 bin back. The woman has confirmed with neighbours that their bins were not taken, leaving her still clueless as to what the thinking was behind the confiscation.
The area of Ripley in which the woman lives falls under the remit of Amber Valley Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council. Amber Valley is responsible for the bins but it outsources its collection work to an external company called Norse Group.
The council have now launched an investigation into the incident.
A spokesperson for Amber Valley Borough Council told the BBC that they had been told by Norse Group that the resident had put out two waste bins, which wasn’t allowed. However, the woman claims she paid for a second bin.
The council representative added that it nevertheless appears that the additional waste bin was incorrectly thrown into the back of the waste vehicle by the operative and that this course of action was not in line with the council’s policy regarding reusing or recycling the bins, and that the council was therefore presently in contact with Norse to ensure an investigation was undertaken so that incidents of this nature are avoided in future.
A newspaper outlet has contacted Norse Group for comment.
Local councils and their contractors need to understand that it’s the public that pays their wages and who are customers and they’re entitled to be treated as such.
It’s not for councils to penalise residents who they claim have broken some arbitrary rule, and councils are legally responsible for the actions of their contractors. In this case, they have stolen a bin that a resident had paid for and this is theft.
Tenants pay councils a fortune in rent, only to be treated with utter disdain by council staff. Go to any council and you can sense the bad attitude as soon as you enter the building, and it appears that people like bin men, traffic wardens and the rest get a feeling of power when they put on their livery and interact with the public.
They feel they can give attitude and feel protected by their uniform and seem to get away with things they wouldn’t dare do without the protection of the uniform, or else they’d be put in their place, and it seems that uniforms trigger megalomania.
And with Ulez, parking charges, bin rules, COVID rules et cetera, it’s evident that local councils look upon themselves as our rulers and don’t see us as customers – local democracy is an illusion.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 