to hire a private waste collection firm then deduct cost from my council tax

[merrywidow]

as the new rules ( Lambeth ) are ridiculously stringent and as a consequence bin has not been emptied for two weeks ( it wasn't on street but on end of drive with no gate next next to street ).

After all I reckon we are only a short time away from having to take the waste somewhere ourselves.

Yeah, they'll take you to court for not paying your full CT, regardless.

Yabu. The rules are the rules.

I feel so sorry for you. Lambeth is one of the very worst local authorities in London - and have outrageously high council tax to boot.

I found that when I left my bin in the "approved" place I got complaints about blocking access to my neighbour's property. I showed the council lady and she said the bin would be collected from within my boundary instead.

Is there anything like that could apply to you?

I had a similar problem before and I was told that the bin has to be within a certain distance of the boundary line (or something like that) an advisor came out and agreed the place it could be left and told the binmen. No problems since then. Perhaps ask them to agree a mutually acceptable place.

And since the cost of collecting rubbish is miniscule, YABU to deduct the cost of the collection. It's a common mistake that the local council keep the majority of your council tax. It's the country council that get the most.

Move to Wandsworth, it's every week + recycling and lowest CT in England... only a mile or so away...

Our council are very strict. We have fortnightly collection. My bin wasn't collected because rather than being exactly perpendicular to the kerb it was sitting at an angle of 10 degrees off.

My mum's bin wasn't collected because it was a fraction under 2/3 full. Funnily enough a fortnight later it wasn't collected because the bin was fuller and the lid was at a slight angle.

My neighbours bin wasn't collected because the lid of the bin was broken.

The piece de la resistance was when the whole street (100 houses) had their bins left un-emptied. When I called to complain I was told it was because the person at number 1 had put an 'illegal' item in the bin and when that happens they don't waste their time with the rest of the street apparently. On checkig what the illegal item was it was one of the bottles for recycling didn't have the label fully removed.

:O xstitch

You could do this up to the point of actual prosecution and then pay, in the process you could draw public attention and support to the issue.

If you are interested in local politics and have time and energy, campainging is the way to go.
It is the time honoured way in which things are changed. On the other hand if you are a lone voice, you will be ignored, but it is still your right to make your views known. So frustrating I know but stand up for what you believe to be right. Contact your local councillor, arrange a meeting with other residents etc.

OMG @ xstitch. Where on earth is that?

YANBU. I'd prefer to take it to a central waste collection point, which is emptied daily, like in Spain. I hate the bin lorries blocking the roads, I hate the prima donna binmen who strike and moan at the slightest thing. They have such poor work ethic and are overpaid for what they do (particularly when you include overtime, which they manage to get by not doing their jobs properly in the first place).

Our collection is fortnightly and stringently strict. Unfortunatley not very reliable. No collections for nearly 2 months this winter due to snow. Random missing of collections means no collection for a month or chasing around after them on the phone to do their jobs.

You would never put up with it if paying a private firm.

In Scotland. Is suspect they go out of their way to find excuses not to work if only they put as much energy into actually doing their job we could probably go back to weekly collection.

Ah.

"Is suspect they go out of their way to find excuses not to work if only they put as much energy into actually doing their job we could probably go back to weekly collection."

I think so too. I am also in Scotland. Our lot are so lazy, they just throw the empty bins aside when they're finished, quite often right across the middle of our driveway on its side.

My favourite one is when in the snow they didn't collect 3 times in a row, hence approaching 8 weeks. Had loads of rubbish and the website advice was to use the recycling bin as well and put both out. They would do overtime of course. Of course, only the black bin was emptied...one bin emptied in 8 weeks in total.

I read somewhere that including overtime, some binmen earn £40,000 pa.

. If I earned half that it would be a relief.

Crikey some areas are harsh!

Our waste collection is great, we have weekly alternating collections so green (recycling) bin one week, then black (normal) bin the next.

The bin has to be visible from the kerb but not necessarily at the kerb. They take very full bins as well as extra rubbish as long as it's bagged. The binmen always put the bin back up from where they collected it and the council schedule extra collections for green waste, Christmas trees etc.

We did have some missed collections when it snowed but then they did extras after it thawed to catch up. We also get a calendar through the door to let us know bank holiday collection changes.

I'm a Licensed Waste Carrier who covers the Lambeth Borough. To be honest the fee you would pay for a private collection would be quite high ( probably at least £25 to £30 per week )

I could certainly recomend a couple of firms that may offer a cheaper service in your area ( not ourselves though unfortunately )

Please get in touch if you get stuck !

Cheers

Martin

I must admit our binmen are pretty good, they come every week and aren't fussy about lids being slightly open or things like that. We've put all sorts of things in the bin and they've always taken them.

OP, you will never win against the council, the 'rules' always work in their favour. We used to have a pub and lived in the flat above it. We paid a lot of council tax for the pub plus we had to pay a private company to collect the rubbish and recycling. Fair enough you might say, but what really grated was that we had to pay council tax again on the flat because it was apparently a separate property (according to them), but they wouldn't collect any household rubbish because 'it was a business'.