| lesley153
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Now that's a thought!
I've rung up in the past when they've missed me, and again two days later when nothing has happened, to be told that the job has been signed off as done. It may have been signed off, but it definitely hasn't been done.
This morning, I did what I've always done - rung the council office that deals with this. Over the last weeks, I've had a variety of responses, including "I'll send the message to someone more senior this time."
Last year, I got the email address of the woman who oversees the whole thing. She got the team supervised for six weeks, during which they did exactly what they're paid to do, including Putting The Bin Back Where They Found It, not three houses away. Once the six weeks was up, it was back to normal.
I'll see what happens tomorrow. If anything happens tomorrow. |
Reply #3961. Oct 20 11, 11:51 AM
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Professer 
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You have too Lesley they should not be allowed to treat you or anyone like that, It annoys me how councils are, One of our Caretakers spends most of his day in the office watching the cc tv screen and even winding it back to see whats occured.
I know he does that as he used to be waiting for me at the bottom on a sunday and ask me to fetch his paper, this has been pointed out to the council by me and a number of other tennants, all we get told is long as place is clean they cannot stop him. I pointed out that what he is doing was a infringemnet of human rights they still not stopped him but i am sure they will do when a mate rings them from the Daily Mirror.
WE have to fight for our rights.
Reply #3962. Oct 20 11, 12:55 PM
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| lesley153
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We do seem to spend much of our time fighting for what's supposed to be ours.
It's not the council, it's the dustbinmen who don't give a hoot. When I've rung the council in the past, usually it's been put right immediately. If it hasn't, then the complaint goes up the chain till the team is put under a supervision order. When they're being watched, they do their job, and then they revert to five-year-olds.
I don't know any dustbinmen, and can't begin to guess how their minds work. |
Reply #3963. Oct 20 11, 1:50 PM
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| C30
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As, amongst other things, Refuse collection comes out of the Council Tax we pay, I presume you can look forward to a refund for "breech of contract" Lesley?
Well you can LOOK! Lol
Our lot refused to empty my "Green Bin" (garden rubbish), because "it had dirt in it"!
Anyone know how to sweep up leaves without any dirt?
So...........I no longer use this "facility", it is easier to pop into into black bags, waltz it down the tip and heave it in there......and let them sort it!
I'm "looking" for a refund too..............have been for years! Lol
Reply #3964. Oct 20 11, 2:22 PM
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| lesley153
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Our lot refused to empty the green (garden waste) bin because of inappropriate content, ie orange (general recycling) bags, no matter that they're biodegradable. So I pulled at the sides of the bags till you could no longer see any orange bits, and the bin was emptied. I hesitate to call these people jobsworths, but what I would call them is not very polite or flattering.
If you refuse to pay the rubbish collection element of the rates, they'll just send in the bailiffs.
The moronic attitude to acceptable content has alienated an awful lot of people. One household was fined £200 because their recycling contained something that shouldn't have fallen in. I don't suppose that household bothered separating recyclables ever again.
My paper, card, plastic and textiles just go into the orange bin, which is emptied straight into a lorry, but I still obliterate or destroy anything that shows my name. |
Reply #3965. Oct 20 11, 3:10 PM
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| trojan11
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I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Here, third world, rubbish is collected every day....yup, every day (most of it, anyway). There's no 'occupation tax', 'council tax', 'rateable value', TV licence, and so on. Only problem is, should you be going to work, or anywhere else, and you get stuch behind a camion de basura, you are going to be well and trukly stuck - for ages. They stop, and run (yes, run!) Up and down the very narrow streets and pick up all the rubbish, and then RUN back to the wagon. They have invariably have a smile 'cos.....they got a job.
Reply #3966. Oct 20 11, 7:53 PM
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| trojan11
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Perleeze forgive the grammatical and spelling errors above.
Reply #3967. Oct 20 11, 7:54 PM
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MarchHare007
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Trojan one upon a time in Oz - they did the same and the 'garbos' were football players and it helped keep them fit.
Back in the days when football was Footbal and princesses didn't play.... :D
Truck arrives clunking and grinding now, big automatic arm scoops up the rubbish-type bin, shakes it, puts it back and trundles off to the next victim.
Every other week they empty the recycle bin at the same time.
Still trying to understand why I can't put broken glass in the recycle bin but when empty glass jars are dumped from a great height into the truck it's different!
Civilised? *pfft*
Reply #3968. Oct 20 11, 11:04 PM
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| C30
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I have this theory:-
It is worth many political "Brownie Points" to be "Green", thus recycling is seen to be a political "buzz word".
Thus it is Government policy to get councils to also be "green" whether they want to or not!
Therefore councils are compelled by "law"?, or at least political policy to be see to embrace "green recycling".
Here we "hit the buffers"........half the councils are not remotely interested in recycling, and merely pay "lip service" to it (and probably the majority of council refuse collectors). Thus if they outwardly appear to embrace Government policy, but covertly make it as awkward as they can for the general public on the principle that mess "joe public" about enough, and they will cease bothering to separate rubbish or put it out for collection and dispose of it themselves. Ergo problem solved!
"Not our fault, we provide the service"............yeah, right!
Heads they win, tails we lose..............anyone know of any other circumstances whereby you are compelled by law the pay through the nose, for something you are not getting?
Reply #3969. Oct 21 11, 1:42 AM
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channe
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MarchHare, I don't understand the "no broken glass" rule either as it all gets dumped together from a great height, and, anyways, have you seen anyone checking your bin to be sure all the glass is intact? And if they do and see some broken glass in there, then what? Officious neanderthals!
Reply #3970. Oct 21 11, 4:11 AM
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| lesley153
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Progress report - I use the word "progress" loosely:
Four weeks ago, the beginning of the rainy season, the bin lid was left open, but I let it go. It's only once and they haven't done it for a while - not since the last rainy season. The following three weeks, it was left open, and I phoned three times.
On Wednesday two days ago, when I wasn't here, the bin was closed because it hadn't been emptied. I rang at about ten o'clock Thursday morning, and was promised a return call. Nobody came on Thursday.
This has happened before. When I've phoned to say that the bin still hasn't been emptied, I've been told that they entered "job done" on their job sheet. They lied.
That's why I phoned again this morning and spoke to the same woman who answered the phone to me yesterday. She checked the job sheet, and it says:
"Lid closed this week."
We agreed that the dustbinmen were precious, and we laughed politely. The alternative was to tell her what I was really thinking, and that might not have been constructive. She promised a call today. I got back from the shops at five, the bin was untouched, and the office staff have finished. It's POETS day, and they finish at 4.30. So I left a nice message, which nobody will hear till Monday.
Are dustbinmen thick, arrogant, lazy, dishonest scum - Neanderthals indeed! - everywhere, or just Bedford?
"...compelled by law the pay through the nose, for something you are not getting?" *sob* |
Reply #3971. Oct 21 11, 10:58 AM
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bloodandsand
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What a sweetheart! I'll swap you for mine, Lesley :)
Reply #3973. Oct 21 11, 11:20 AM
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| lesley153
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| Thanks for offering, Bev, but I wouldn't want to deprive you of your sweetheart! |
Reply #3974. Oct 21 11, 11:31 AM
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Professer
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Bedfords refuse must be worst i have heard of, your treatment Lesley isd a utter disgrace. Do you have the phone number of your local councillor? if so ring him/her early tomorrow morning and explain the situation,
The bin men should not be allowed to get away with this and they treating you badly.
To many so called council workers take the urine out of us council tax payers. In lincoln they are were on about turning off the cc cameras in the shopping areas and tourist areas, they have decided not to now due to public pressure, so my councillor told me today when i saw him delivering news letters, So i have suggested they turn off the ones in our flats and the others, when he asked why i said so the caretaker who sits all day watching it rather then clean up the building will have to do work, asked me what i meant said check with city hall there have been complaints and nothing done, so maybe will now get this problem sorted.
Back to the bin issue maybe a letter to the local press may help sugesting that anyone else disatisfied with the bin emptying or lack of and leaving of lids open demand a council tax rebate.
Reply #3975. Oct 21 11, 11:40 AM
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| lesley153
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Unless it's just because I do the most moaning about it?
Some months ago, someone gave me the email address of the woman who oversees the whole lot, which sent my complaint to the top of the food chain. That's when the team were put on a six-week supervision order, and their work was immaculate.
Here's the order of work they seem to have such difficulty with.
1. Find the bin.
Not as easy as it sounds.
"We didn't see it. It was behind the orange/green bin."
This is not a valid excuse. They're supposed to get out and look.
2. Empty the bin.
To do this, they have to find the lorry, then hook the bin onto the back of it. Press a button, the mechanism on the lorry lifts the bin, inverts it, shakes the contents out, then returns it to right way up, ground level. In terms of intellectual challenge, this is probably marginally simpler to learn than a Fischer-Price sorting toy.
3. Close the lid.
It's not brain surgery.
4. Put the bin back where they found it.
This *is* brain surgery. The bins live at the side of the path. By the time the binmen have had their little joke, they're strewn across the path. I am lucky enough to be able to see and walk. Just as well. Imagine identifying a bin by touch (or smell), or sitting in a wheelchair moving bins out of the way. Binmen can't imagine it. Perhaps they need to spend a day in a wheelchair, or blindfolded, and learn from it.
Perhaps they remember the six weeks of being watched like children, and they're punishing me for it. There's a solution. Do your job properly, you won't get complaints and you won't need to be watched.
Calm now till Monday. |
Reply #3976. Oct 21 11, 1:20 PM
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Professer
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Well enjoy a calm weekend Lesley but do not let them get away with it.
Reply #3977. Oct 21 11, 1:45 PM
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| C30
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You can always tell when it is bin day, cars driving along the road, like Destroyers avoiding torpedoes........wheelie bins in road, on pavements, by fences, upside down, on their side, scattered near and far in fact..........and ones with an open lid,or where the householder has in some way infringed unwritten refuse collectors rules, still full and where they should be.
........and whilst on the subject of "Council Jobsworths".......how about holes in the road? Whilst it is reasonable that repairing side roads in a suburban area is not high priority, sometimes the council receive deliveries of a new lot of "round-tuites" and a lorry appears......cones sprout up, and the happy sound of pneumatic drills may be heard.
Last time this happened was summer (whichever day that fell on) and I was chatting to my neighbour........the workers having filled holes (except for the largest, directly opposite my neighbour's driveway) were about to depart.
Graham(neighbour) noticing the hole still opposite his drive trotted off to point this out.
It seems the reply to his query as to why the biggest hole remained un-repaired was along the lines of:-
"Says here" (orders), "Fill five holes, we've filled five".
"But what about that one"?, asked Graham. "Not on my orders mate, you'll have to phone the council".
All together now, "Jobsworth, jobsworth, more than me jobsworth......"
You couldn't make it up!
Reply #3978. Oct 21 11, 2:43 PM
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MarchHare007
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Our shire council sets it's own parameters regarding how and how much they collect. All the councils do, apparently.
Have a good green policy. Was happily surprised to see them collecting methane from the landfill at the tip - "Recycling Station" on the blurb -....and are very happy for people to tour the recycling area. And they hand sort.
The methane supplies the basis for power the site and any left-over power is returned to the grid.
BUT this is probably the only thing I would ever commend Council for.
Part of the problem with adding broken glass is broken glass for drinking type glasses which may contain lead. As it won't leak out into anything I can't quite see they have a problem. We're not exactly the cut glass society around here. :)
Driver of the collection truck doesn't leave his seat. I think he likes it because it's left hand drive.
Have had occasion to grizzle when the rubbish bin wasn't empted..."It was too heavy and couldn't be lifted' I was told.
"Then how did I wheel it 150 metres to the road?' I replied.
Bin was apparently being emptied as I grizzled.......
Reply #3979. Oct 21 11, 2:50 PM
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MarchHare007
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Jobsworth? Demarcation around here.
Holes are promptly filled - someone rings to tell them where they are and a contractor arrives in the middle of a rainstorm to heap steaming road mix into the puddle....
Everything is outsourced because it's apparently cheaper.
As long as the job is done when it should be and I can grizzle to a Real Person when it isn't I'm a relatively Happy Girl! :)
Reply #3980. Oct 21 11, 2:55 PM
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