‘I’ve now got three black bin bags full of medical dressings, which I’m frightened to leave out because the foxes will get at them’
‘Residents are furious'(Image: LDRS)
Neighbours on a Trafford street have complained after their general rubbish bins went unemptied for 25 days. Terry Gould, who lives in Woodhouse Lane, in Sale, said his grey bin – for non-recyclables – and those of his neighbours were not taken between December 22 and January 16.
Mr Gould said the missed collection caused particular problems for his household. His 32-year-old grandson suffers from a terminal illness, with Mr Gould and his wife acting as his primary carers.
The 76-year-old said he had to do tip runs to stop waste piling up in the street. He said he feared foxes would rip the bags open and medical waste would end up strewn in the road.
Grey bins are supposed to be emptied every fortnight in Trafford. The One Trafford Partnership – between the town hall and and contractor Amey – arranged for the bins to be emptied on January 16 after the LDRS made contact.
A spokesman apologised for the delay, blaming it on an ‘error in the system’.
Speaking prior to the collection, Mr Gould said: “Everybody’s got the bins out, piled up with black bin bags, and it’s a nightmare. We’re trying to go to the tip when we can, but I haven’t got the time to be running to the tip every few minutes.
Woodhouse Lane bins were not collected between December 22 and January 16(Image: Terry Gould)
“I’ve now got three black bin bags full of medical dressings, which I’m frightened to leave out because the foxes will get at them, but I’ve got to leave out in case they [the refuse team] come.
“They’ll be all over the street and, some of them, it’s not very nice stuff, to be honest. Stoma bags and all that kind of stuff.”
Mr Gould reported the missed collection to contractor Amey, which empties the bins locally. He claims he was told the street was inaccessible on January 6, when it was last supposed to be emptied. He highlighted that workers emptied his green bin – for food waste – that day.
Mr Gould added: “Our council tax continues to rise with services getting poorer. The people deserve a proper explanation of the apparent chaos in collections of our bins and maybe even a small rebate on our council tax.”
Ward councillors Kaushik Chakraborty and Ulrich Savary have raised the matter with council officers. They claimed many streets on their patches are frequently impacted by missed collections.
Coun Chakraborty said: “Quite a few streets have been missed and been missed repeatedly. Various bins, gray bins, green bins, have been missed.
“We’ve raised this with the contractors, Amey, and we have been told that there is an issue with manpower. There is no clear answer at the moment. Confusion is not a good place to be and the residents are in a limbo.
“It is the very basic stuff, potholes, bins, these are the things that people pay the council tax for and it’s obviously not the best at the moment, I would say.” Coun Savary added: “Residents are furious.”
Woodhouse Lane bins were not collected between December 22 and January 16(Image: Terry Gould)
A spokesman for the One Trafford Partnership said: “We can confirm that there was an access issue on 6 January when our crew came to empty Mr Gould’s grey bin. Although it was flagged by our crew, an error in the system meant the work was not re-allocated for the bin to be emptied the next day. We apologise for the error and a crew will return to empty the grey bin within the next two days.
“Additionally, we are aware that some residents have not had their green bins collected due to a shortage of drivers. We recognise the frustration this has caused and apologise for any inconvenience. As green bins are collected weekly, missed rounds were not rearranged and residents’ bins will be emptied on their next scheduled collection day.
“To increase capacity and improve resilience, new drivers were inducted on 8 January. Additional crews will also be deployed on 17 January to help clear backlogs and to continue strengthening the service.”