WHEELIE BIN COVERS

For the householder who has absolutely everything and can't think of anything else to spend their money on. Now you have the opportunity to gain oneupmanship on your neighbours. Blend your wheelie bin into foliage, hedges, bushes or make it a feature with a Wheelie Bin Cover. With 12 attractive designs to choose from your wheelie bin need never spoil the appearance of your patio or garden again. All Wheelie Bin Covers have all the following qualities:

* Easy to apply
* High quality vinyl, weather resistant, washable and long lasting
* 4 Self adhesive vinyl sheets
* Specially formulated adhesive
* UV stable inks
* Easy to follow fitting instructions
* No special tools required
* FREE squeegee supplied

Finish off your wheelie bin in style, Number Decals stick on the BIN LID to display your house number.

For full details contact:
The Wheelie Bin Cover Company Limited,
Leigh Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 1JX, England.
Tel: 0800 783 4767 (UK mainland only) or +44 (0)161 703 8189
Fax: +44 (0)161 703 8194
E-mail: info@wheelie-bin-covers.co.uk

A number of wheelie bins were delivered by North Devon Council and left on the pavement. One of the bins was blown into a residents car breaking the wing mirror and damaging the paintwork. The councils insurers, Zurich, rejected a claim for damages of £500 saying the bins are the responsibility of householders.

In a letter to the resident, Zurich said, "The bin left on the pavement was blown by strong winds, and as you will appreciate, our customer (the council) cannot be held liable for natural elements." Stray bins were the resonsibility of householders and, Zurich added, the council cannot be resonsible for residents actions.

Though meant as a brush-off, this letter amounts to a confession. Of course the council controls neither residents nor the winds, and for exactly these reasons, it was irresponsible to dump bins in the street. Zurich finally accept this. The company said, "This was a complicated claim and on further investigations we have decided to make good the damage caused to the car by the wheelie bin."

Residents facing a wheelie bin shortage have been asked to share bins with neighbours. About 700 people are currently waiting for replacement bins, with the council blaming high demand from Europe as part of the cause of delays. Now council officials have suggested that householders share waste space until new deliveries arrive but some residents have said the idea is impractical, especially with tough rules about what can go in the bins. City councillor Mike Carr, who is in charge of waste management, said, "Try and manage as much as you can, if you have a really serious problem come back to us and we shall see what we can do. But in the meantime can you try and co-operate with your neighbour and use their bin." (Source: BBC News, Aug/08)

A homeowner was taken to court for dumping rubbish after his wheelie bin was knocked over causing waste to spill on to the road. Council chiefs accused Gary Rostron of 'incorrectly placing his rubbish bags beside his collecting receptacle' and issued him with a £60 fixed penalty notice. Mr Rostron refused to pay claiming the wheelie bin had simply fallen over and officials took legal action. He said, "The council told me they had evidence I had dumped the rubbish because there were three envelopes with my name and address on them in the bags found in the alleyway. Of course there was, it was my rubbish. I had put the bags in the bin and left them out for the bin men. I tried to explain to the council thinking they would see reason but they didn't want to listen."

The problems began in March when Mr Rostron left his bin out for collection in the alleyway behind his home in Blackburn, Lancs. He was given a £60 fine by the council and when he refused to pay was taken to he town's magistrates' court charged with breaching section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act, where he was found not guilty. But Blackburn with Darwen Council still insist it made the correct decision and the prosecution was a last resort.

The borough's Labour leader Kate Hollern said, "I think that people dumping rubbish should be taken to court but I do have sympathy with this gentleman because I have had a number of complaints about bins not being collected and then getting knocked over. What are residents supposed to do?" Councillor Alan Cottam, executive member for regeneration and environment for the council, said, "No one would be convicted of anything if we dropped cases when people said they were innocent. Evidence has to be tested in court and it is then up to the magistrates to decide." (Source: Daily Mail, Nov08)

Lancashire County Council spent £70,000 of taxpayers’ money on a secret spying mission to sift through people’s rubbish. A team of 10 local authority snoops was sent out to sift through the wheelie bins of 400 unsuspecting households for a “waste audit”. Some black bins stuffed with rotting food, plastic wrappers and cans were taken away for further examination. The two-week operation became public only after a Burnley woman saw men putting her bin bags into a council van. A county council spokesman said, “Residents were not told they were being audited because it might skew results if they started to act conscientiously as a result of knowing they were being studied.” The audit comes two months after it was revealed Blackburn with Darwen Council staff had been using ladders to snoop over garden walls looking for unauthorised second wheelie bins. (Source: Daily Express, Nov/08)

When Andrew Fowler was asked to pay £60 for a new council-issue wheelie bin, he decided to buy an exact copy online for half the price. However, once it was delivered free of charge from Germany his council refused to empty it because he had bought it from an unofficial source. Mr Fowler then took the bin to a gypsy camp and to his amazement, the council collected it without hesitation.

He said, “They were charging £60 for one of their bins, which I thought was a bit steep, so I bought one on the internet for £29, including delivery. But then I got a letter in the post saying that binmen would not collect it because it did not have a South Cambridgeshire District Council logo on it.”

South Cambridgeshire District Council said, “In light of the issues that have been raised surrounding Andrew Fowler’s bin collection, we are currently reviewing our collection arrangements from hard-to-reach areas and licensed traveller sites. This is with a view to ensuring that our policies are applied appropriately, fairly and consistently.” (Source: Daily Express, Nov/08)

Hundreds of homeowners have been told their rubbish will not be collected if their wheelie bin lids are open more than a quarter of an inch. Council chiefs claim the domestic waste could be a health and safety risk. The new rules mean some bins, packed to capacity because of Christmas, Bank Holidays and weather, have not been collected for up to three weeks. Bin men in Coventry were even spotted using tape measures to see if bin lids were beyond the quarter inch limit. The strict new rules on bin collection have been introduced by Coventry City Council who claim they are concerned about 'spillages' occurring if bin lids are not firmly closed.

Cllr Hazel Noonan, cabinet member for city services, said, "It's for health and safety reasons and spillage reasons that we do not collect extra items. There is a concern that spillage can occur as over-filled bins or bags are taken from the pavement to the road and injure people standing there. For health and safety reasons we have to be careful." The council said homeowners were responsible for disposing of excess waste at the city's tips. Cllr Noonan added, "We accept that residents have more waste and we are asking them to assist us by taking extra bags to the site at Whitely." (Source: Daily Mail, Jan/10)