Council tax waste collection refund

southy007

Didn't know which section to put this in, feel free to move it!!

Over Xmas the council didn't collect recycling or waste collections, as recycling collection was Xmas day and household waste was new years day. The council have made no alternative arrangments for collection so it will be a month without collection on both bins!

As I am a full payer of council tax, I see that I am paying the council for a service, one of these is waste collection.

Surely if they do not keep their agreement and provide a service I pay for, then like any other business/company I should be able to claim a refund for the missed collections.

Obviously I know it's hardly any money, but it's the principles....

neilmcl

southy007 wrote: »

household waste was new years day.

New Years day is not over yet.

In my experience local councils do make alternative arrangements for refuse collections that fall on public holidays. I think you need to speak to them first to see what the situation is. Did your neighbours put out their bins today or maybe they knew something you didn't.

iamana1ias

Which council is it?

davidlizard

Round our way, if your rubbish collection day happens to fall on a bank holiday then its tough - they simply collect when they are next scheduled to do so. As we have alternate weekly collections, then this usually means 4 weeks between a bin getting emptied.

Then they won't empty it if the lid is not fully shut, meaning you have to transfer 1 month old stinking rubbish into the car and queue up at the local dump for the best part of a morning to get rid of it. Needless to say there are heaps of rubbish in every lay-by, field entrance and along bridleways as fly-tipping is the easiest option.

Due to the snow before Xmas, collections were suspended, and as a consequence some people are having to go 6 weeks between collections.

Bin emptying should be privatised IMO, with a reduction in council tax and being able to choose who empties the bins and what frequency, and whether you want to recycle or not (i.e. leave them to sort it).

pulliptears

My collection was due on Christmas Day and they came on Christmas Eve instead. We haven't had a new years collection so far today butI think bin men deserve a holiday as well. Its no real issue for us, our recycle bins are not full and food waste isn't going to smell much in the cold weather.

Lil_Me_2

In Bristol if there is a bank holiday the rubbish collection is pushed back a day. e.g our normal day is Monday so with xmas day and the bank holiday on Monday our collection was on Wednesday this week.

I think this is the fairest way to do it! I'm surprised that other councils just skip collections! You're a bit unlucky if your collection day is a Monday aren't you.

southy007

The fantastic council in question is Preston, I have contacted them and there is no alternative arrangement.

Bin men may deserve a holiday, but then that arguement could be stretched to every job, meaning total shutdown for hospitals etc....

The principle is the main thing that bothers me, some will not be bothered by this who are single or couples etc, but families will struggle over festive seasons.

It's about time we got our moneys worth from our councils, the bills go up every year, but it seems the service gets worse...

neilmcl

southy007 wrote: »

The fantastic council in question is Preston, I have contacted them and there is no alternative arrangement.

That's not what they say on their website:

There will be no bin or box collections on Christmas Day, Monday 28th December, or New Years Day. If you would normally receive a collection on any of these days, or if there had been a change to you collection day, you will be sent an information leaflet in the post with full details. If you have not received an information leaflet by December 21st please contact 01772 906905.

Alternative collections have been made for refuse and food waste collections only. If you miss your recycling collection because it falls on Christmas Day, Monday 28th or New Years Day, we will collect extra on your next scheduled recycling collection.

dmg24

How much do you suggest that they refund you?

spysect

What happens if they don't collect the bins for over a month? And they collect the others?

As in our council is meant to collect our bins weekly but they have missed 2 weeks in November, and all of December! The funny thing is, the other bins on the street where collect apart from ours (and a neighbour).

Rang the council up because in the weeks they missed in November, our bin was stolen and thus forcing us to pay £20 for a new bin (Council says it wasn't their problem) >_> And the council says it is that there are missed collections.

What are our rights on this then? The council wouldn't listen to our pleas to get the bins collected and they said that the rubbish (which they are meant to collect weekly!) are not their problem if they missed it. The only thing they did was to log it as a missed collection on the system every week when I have rang them but nothing is being done! Worst thing was when they said not to put a whole months of rubbish in the bin because the bin will be overfilled! So I have asked them, where do I put the rest of the rubbish?

The response was:

"Dump it inside the house"

:@

CIS

There's been a suprisingly large number of these question over the last week.

Council Tax legislation does not create a service contract - its a way of funding local authorities - and therefore there is , under the council tax legislation, no requirement to provide any service in return for payment.(even though money paid does part pay for the waste collection service etc)

Any statutory service requirments that the council have are dealt with seperately to council tax and complaints raised with the council dept who provide the service.