Brown bin was swallowed by the bin truck and the council don't want to know

currantbun2

 On 4 April our wheely bin somehow fell in to the waste truck when they came round emptying the bins. Fortunately I was at home and spoke to the bin men who said they would report it and we would get a new bin, but since then nothing has happened.

So I reported this on the council website and they replied saying it had not been reported to them and I would need to buy a new bin. I went back and said they should provide a bin etc etc but I am making no headway and they simply 'close' the enquiry as soon as they have responded.

This is making me angry not just because it is £20 for someone else's mistake, but because the council are not ensuring the bin men are doing their job properly and have no interest in what has happened. Apart from anything else what if I was really poor and could not afford a new bin? It isn't as though you can put out a bin bag these days.

Any suggestions? I can't grab the bin men next week as I'm away and I guess they will just deny it or won't remember. It's really the councils' responsibility so I suppose a long drawn out process using their complaints procedure is in order. 

I really don't want to give in on this!

elsien

Would your local  councillor be able to help? 

Is it possible to phone through directly to the refuse collection department to prompt them  rather than going through the online reporting system?

MalMonroe

I agree with what elsien said, above. Have you actually phoned and spoken to a person? (Although I know that in itself can be a big headache, if my own council is anything to go by). Online reporting systems are inflexible and can only do what they're programmed to do (very little, usually). Our bins are emptied by Veolia, subcontracted to the council. But there will be a number on the council's webpage.

Give them a ring. See what they say. 

(And really, would you like to be a bin man or woman?)(We have women here as well.) They're paid peanuts to do a rubbish job. (Pun intended). 

HillStreetBlues

Make a formal complaint to your council.

SteveJW

elsien said:

Is it possible to phone through directly to the refuse collection department to prompt them  rather than going through the online reporting system?

Different councils, different rules
My bin was damaged, hinge broken on lid.
Rang local depot, automatically transferred to Customer Services, they noted down problem.
As we live in a row of terraced houses and bins put out in ten-foot, told to mark bin with address, put out in ten-foot and  new one would be delivered in a couple of days, sure enough new bin arrived

Only issue they would not knock on door or put a card through leter box to say delivered, so had to keep close watch so no one stole it

Top marks East Riding Council

Peter999_2

Yeah, East Riding council are really good.  The recycling is excellent with big bins for all of them (in York we have to use crappy, small containers for the recycling).

I once lost a bin in York in the same way - fortunately I had CCTV at my old house.     You can see the bin man but it on the back of the lorry, press the button, the bin literally disappears.   You can see him look around a couple of times then just carry on.

I reported it to the council and they wanted me to pay for it - until I told them about the video.   I got a new bin delivered the day after.

Manxman_in_exile

elsien said:

Would your local  councillor be able to help? 

Is it possible to phone through directly to the refuse collection department to prompt them  rather than going through the online reporting system?

+1 and if that gets nowhere:

HillStreetBlues said:

Make a formal complaint to your council.

currantbun2

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm just really glad I saw what happened (sadly didn't think to take a pic) otherwise I would be seething that someone 'stole' my bin and thinking badly of my innocent neighbours!

Unfortunately there are no phone numbers provided by my lovely council (Waltham forest) I guess they don't want to speak to anyone,  but I have now filed a formal complaint on the website. I may not get my bin back but I am going to be a thorn in their side for a while....

DCFC79

currantbun2 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm just really glad I saw what happened (sadly didn't think to take a pic) otherwise I would be seething that someone 'stole' my bin and thinking badly of my innocent neighbours!

Unfortunately there are no phone numbers provided by my lovely council (Waltham forest) I guess they don't want to speak to anyone,  but I have now filed a formal complaint on the website. I may not get my bin back but I am going to be a thorn in their side for a while....

I know Im late but did you give your local councillor a try, they are elected to help the constituants whether you voted for them or not.

currantbun2

Hi there - yes I did, she was very helpful and actually wrote an email to her contact at the Council in charge of waste. However the person at the council said I should exhaust  the complaints process first. I have just received a reply re my 'level 1' complaint which basically said something like 'if the bin men didn't put a card through your door then your bin didn't go missing'. 
Interesting logic there.
So I'll now put in a level 2 complaint and go as high as I can. There is an issue here and they are ignoring it. Firstly a bin should not get lost in the truck (possibly becuase it was the small size) and secondly the bin men are not reporting this when it happens.

I thought it might be interesting to send in a foi request to see how many bins fall in the truck?

You can see I am disproportionately annoyed about this! Its not as if I don't have anything else to worry about, but I think this is a bit much!!! 

SevenOfNine

I used to work for our local council. Ask your councillor when it became appropriate for council empoyees to tell a councillor & resident this had to 'go through the complaints process first'. Stage 1 has been done, you didn't lose the bin, end of, unless they are implying you're a liar!

I worked in 3 departments, the rule was "when a councillor says jump, the answer is how high".

Either she is fobbing you off, or she's allowing an empoyee to fob both of you off.