Council refuses to collect residents’ wheelie bin rubbish if lids are left open

A council is refusing to collect residents’ rubbish if their wheelie bin lids are left open by just a few inches.

Contractors will ignore any bins with the lids ajar and mark them with a sticker reading: ”Bin lid open, making it unsafe to empty”.

They will be collected on the next round in two weeks – but only if the lid is fully closed.

Wiltshire Council says the rule has been in place for some time but is only now being enforced by contractor Fosca.

But residents claim they should have been informed of the rules and are now left with piles of rubbish outside their homes.

Victoria Smith, 29, of Trowbridge, Wilts., left her bin out on Tuesday, but came home from work at Virgin Media to find a sticker on it.

Victoria, who is seven months pregnant, said: ”The bin was only open by about six inches. They said there was excess rubbish in it.

”I went to the council offices and spoke to a lady, who said they aren’t collecting bins that are overflowing.

”She said they had had hundreds of complaints causing a backlog of work. If they had just told us in advance we would have sorted something out.”

Chef Siobhan Shanahan, 50, of Bradford on Avon, Wilts., said her bin was only open by about 45 degrees when she left it out for collection on Monday.

”I phoned the council to say ‘Okay, I’ve closed the lid now, when are you going to come and collect it’ and they said they would collect it in two weeks’ time when it is normally collected.

”By that time I will have four weeks’ worth of rubbish. I’ve left the bin out like that before and it has always been collected.”