On bin day, neighbour obstructs my front garden with their bins.

c4bosh

As the title suggests, I live on a street with detached houses. 
My neighbour always places their bins on the roadside, but right up against the boundary of my front garden on collection day. My front garden has large shrubs/trees along the front edge of it, and the only way to maintain them is from the pavement side because the garden's ground level drops down to the pavement. 
I used to tolerate the neighbour by avoiding maintenance near bin collection day. But, quite a few times, the bins would be put out the night before, and still be there the day after collection, all left in front of my garden.
One day, I decided to move the bins over in front of the neighbour's garden, which has a wall along the front. But I got shouted at for moving them and was forced to put them back in front of my garden. (There seems to be an OCD issue where the neighbour needs to place her bins away from her house.)
Things escalated because I was getting frustrated at having to manage what days I could arrange for garden maintenance around their bins. So, I moved them again, and I got shouted at and abused by the neighbour and had to call the Police.
The Police seemed to side with the neighbour and said that because the actual bin is on the street, there is no restriction on where they can place it, even if it's causing an obstruction.
But, it's really unfair because, yet again, I am in the situation where I need to book someone to trim the shrubs and trees back off the pavement but I have already had to reschedule because the person coming out was booked to carry out the work on Bin Day, before I realised, and I had to quickly rearrange the date which has knocked the slot back weeks, because the change was at short notice. 
Am I stuck with this setup? I feel like I will have to dig up all of my front garden shrubs/ trees and have nothing to maintain so I don't have to deal with next door's bins.
 

born_again

Most councils have a restriction that bins should not block the footpath & not be left out any longer than needed. So if they are still out next day & they are at home. Give the council a shout.

Personally I would just move them & tell them if not happy to move them, or you will just leave in the road. 

grumpy_codger

The police are right.
You seem to pay far too much attention to maintaining your shrubs from the public pavement.
If you want to book someone just do this and they will take care of the bin if they need this.

ETA: you can discuss this with the council as AFAIK a bin, if possible, has to be left on the edge of the owner's property, not on a public pavement.

vacheron

I would assume that the person trimming your trees and shrubs would just move the neighbours bin ever so slightly further up the road for 5 minutes, trim the shrubs, and then put them back.

Why do you have to cancel his appointment just because he might need to slightly move a bin?

Also how many times do you have to trim your shrubs? We do ours once or twice a year and have bin collection day once a week. That leaves about 150 days to pick from that aren't on bin day. "Having to dig up all your trees and shrubs" sounds like a bit of an overreaction.  

Uriziel

I don't understand what the problem is with being shouted at? Just move them and let them yell..? Just like the police said, they are on the public road so this is fine. If you are moving them and they are on public road that is still fine. What are they going to complain about? That their bin was moved by a few cm on the public pavement so that someone can cut their grass..? Just do what you have to do and let them "yell". They will get used to it very quickly. What are they going to do? Call the police because someone moved their bin for a few cm? The police would probably fine them for wasting their time.

SadieO

c4bosh said:

The Police seemed to side with the neighbour and said that because the actual bin is on the street, there is no restriction on where they can place it, even if it's causing an obstruction. 

Not really sure that's taking the neighbour's side. If there's no restrictions, you are as free to put them outside the neighbour's as they are to put them outside yours.  

TELLIT01

The OP seems to be making a big fuss over a very small problem.  Do they really have to access their hedge for maintenance every day of the week?  It has all the appearance of a neighbour dispute which has got way out of hand.

Section62

Uriziel said:

...Just like the police said, they are on the public road so this is fine. If you are moving them and they are on public road that is still fine....

Strictly, the police were wrong in what they said.  Leaving a wheelie bin on the highway (instead of your own property) is obstruction, and you could (in theory) be prosecuted for it.  However, the police are unlikely to want to do the paperwork, hence the response the OP was given.

The council could also issue a FPN and/or consider prosecution for an offence under the EPA 1990, for example non-compliance with a notice requiring waste receptacle to be left within the boundary of the property.

But neither enforcement route is likely to lead to much if it is only the OP's gardening which is affected - there would need to be an impact on road users / the wider public, and the 'keep your bins off the footway' requirement would apply to all properties on the street, not just the neighbour.

c4bosh

grumpy_codger said:

The police are right.
You seem to pay far too much attention to maintaining your shrubs from the public pavement.
If you want to book someone just do this and they will take care of the bin if they need this.

ETA: you can discuss this with the council as AFAIK the bin, if possible, has to be left on the edge of the owner's property, not on a public pavement.

The problem is that no one can move the bin out of the way. The neighbour goes mental if we do.

4justice2

Maybe check council policy? In my borough the advice is clear, bins must be placed at the edge of your own property, but not on the public footpath/ highway.

booneruk

The neighbour sounds like a lunatic to be honest. What would happen if you put your bin in this spot before they get the chance?