Bin done
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:41 pm
One for Andrew D methinks....
A man was hauled before a court for leaving a wheelie bin outside his home.
Gerald Thompson told magistrates he had no choice but to leave the bin at the front of his terraced house.
But he was found guilty of 'failing to comply with a requirement imposed by a waste collection authority' and ordered to pay £550.
The 51-year-old said that the only way to move the bin to the back of his house, as requested by the council, would be to wheel it through his house.
After the trial at North Staffordshire Justice Centre, Mr Thompson, of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, said: 'That is absolutely crazy. What is this world coming to? How can somebody be convicted for leaving as bin outside the house because they don't want to live with that bin?
'Living with a bin inside our house makes it smell, especially a wheelie bin.'
Stoke City Council defended the decision to prosecute Mr Thompson, who had failed to pay an £80 fine, saying action had been taken as a 'last resort'.
Mr Thompson said that when he moved into his home, everyone had kept their bins on the street. But in January the council brought in rules saying bins must be kept inside the boundaries of properties, and only taken outside between 7am and 7pm on collection days.
Mr Thompson said he had been unable to take the bin to the back of his house using an alleyway because his back door and gate had been damaged in bad weather, leaving him no option but to leave the bin on the street unless he brought it through his house.
He was fined £150 by the court, and must pay more than £550 in total. Homes in Stoke-on-Trent can have up to three bins – for recycling, garden waste and general waste.
