All Albert Stewart wanted to do was help householders keep their streets looking clean and clear of clutter.Say what?
But the binman has been removed from the round he has worked for 33 years – for picking up too much rubbish.
I wonder if money was involved?
The 60-year-old took away extra bin bags left beside overflowing wheelie bins, which council bosses say is against strict refuse rules.My god, Albert! You're taking food out of the mouths of diversity outreach co-ordinaters and anti-smoking consultancy managers!
Householders caught leaving rubbish outside wheelie bins can be fined up to £1,000.
No wonder the council was upset with you...
A spectacularly useless spokesperson was wheeled out to explain the council action and did so, unwittingly revealing just how the council views itself and its
A spokesman for West Lancashire Borough Council said residents were asked not to put out black bags next to their wheelie bins because it attracted vermin.If Albert takes the bags away, thay aren't there to attract vermin, are they?
Binmen were instructed not to take the bags away because it encouraged residents to break the rules.
And 'the rules'? Have you forgotten what the binmen are for? They are there to take away the rubbish, not ensure households stick to 'rules' made up by unelected officials, usually in Brussels!
We need a wholesale purge. Maybe one in fifty local government employees is fit for purpose. The rest should be sacked - with loss of pension - on the spot. To be in government should be to live with the constant fear of being fired. Instead, they have us quivering in terror lest we break one of the multitude of pettifogging 'rules' they have conjured up.
ReplyDeleteOnce again we see how "rules" are imposed on councils. I have experience of this sort of thing from my time serving on a Conservative-run council, as West Lancs is for that matter.
ReplyDeleteTake it from me: we do try to resist this sort of thing, and often succeed — but not always. We are far more pragmatic than dogmatic (as history very slearly demonstrates) though not perfect(!)
David Gillies,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the sentiment, but you are being too kind. There is plenty of rope in the country, and a lot of trees too.
You'd think they'd be praising him to high heaven and holding him up as an example to the rest of how it's supposed to be done. What a strange topsy turvy world we live in.
ReplyDeleteThere must be the temptation to take the excess rubbish to the local council office.
ReplyDeleteDemand to speak with the Council Leader.
And walk out. Minus Rubbish.
Tragic, but you've summed it all up.
ReplyDelete"We need a wholesale purge. Maybe one in fifty local government employees is fit for purpose."
ReplyDeleteAs many as that..?
"Take it from me: we do try to resist this sort of thing, and often succeed — but not always."
That's easily remedied. And I think UKIP has the answer. Certainly, the Tories don't...