Any ideas on how to get round the £50 for a replacement wheelie bin?

DWTB

Hi everyone, not too sure if this is in the right place so apologies if not.

I've just moved into a new house and discovered there's no wheelie bin as it was stolen while the property was left vacant for a while. I rang up the council (Barnet) to get another one, only to be told that I'd have to fork out £50 for a new one. Is this normal? Has anyone else found a way to get round it?

thebaldwindowfitter

can you not say the bin wagon swallowed it .in my local area you only pay if the house is brand new

waggys

How can they justify charging you as a new owner to the property if there is no bin there on your arrival? Perhaps the previous owners took the wheelie bin with them to their new property - why should you be liable for that? Presumably they will not collect your rubbish if it is not contained within one of their wheelie bins?

I would ask to speak to someone else in the department and explain your predicament - surely you cannot be held responsible for paying this?

savemoney

I am sure you can buy them cheaper online of course I would have thought it would have to be the right colour for the bin men

ScoobieGirl

This sounds very unusual for a new tennant. Some councils even give them away to exixsting tennants if they had been stolen. I'd try phoning again and seeing if you'd have any luck with a different person. I would have thought as a new tennant they'd be obliged to give you one for free if they insist they only collect waste from wheelie bins. Googleing it seems it does vary a lot from council to council though so you could just be unlucky.

CGG

When my Mum moved house last year, she discovered on moving in to the new place that there was no wheelie bin. The Council said she should pay for a replacement one. Unhappy at this, and having explained she'd left her old one at the old house, they gave her some strong plastic sacks to use in the meantime.
She complained again, a couple of weeks later, and this time the Coucil agreed that it wasn't her fault there was no bin - and they sent one round FOC.

moonrakerz

savemoney wrote: »

I am sure you can buy them cheaper online of course I would have thought it would have to be the right colour for the bin men

I saw in the Press last week that a local council somewhere is charging householders £60 for their wheelie bins. An enterprising local found that you can buy the identical bins from Germany for half the price - the Council is now refusing to empty bins that do not carry the "official" Council logo !

See:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/displayarticle.asp?id=319310&showallcomments=1

moonrakerz

PS: This is the same council that insults the intelligence of its taxpayers by printing and distributing "rubbish" like this :-

G-G_4

Moonrakerz - that made me laugh :laugh: I'd go for option B!

Poppycat

That wouldn't work in my town

When wheelies bins first came out they didnt have any logo, only the last few years have they done so

I cant see how the council can enforce this, they are after all employed by us. As long as the bin confides to there requirements size, colour, what difference does it make whether a logo is on it? the only difference is that the council make money from the sale

moonrakerz wrote: »

I saw in the Press last week that a local council somewhere is charging householders £60 for their wheelie bins. An enterprising local found that you can buy the identical bins from Germany for half the price - the Council is now refusing to empty bins that do not carry the "official" Council logo !

See:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/displayarticle.asp?id=319310&showallcomments=1

DWTB

Thanks everyone! I'm definitely going to ring them again and complain. It just seems so ridiculous. I was informed that if I tried to buy my own bin, they wouldn't pick it up! Going on Poppycat's comment, if they still insisted I pay for a new one, I could find my own online with the exact same measurements and in the same coulour and then just paint it like lots of houses do. Then they wouldn't ever know if it was one of theirs or not. Good plan? Only problem is that the cheapest bin that I've found online so far is £46 so I won't be saving very much. I'll see if I can find those German ones...