Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that the bin men shouldn't be doing their stuff in peak rush hour?

63 replies

HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 10:44

Especially in London where most of the residential streets are really narrow and can only fit one car in each direction? This morning was a perfect example of how disruptive it is... the roads where I live are in a grid pattern, narrow roads with cars parked both sides so only one car can go down them, if another car comes along you have to find a space to pull in and let them pass.

This moring there were three bin lorries parked in the middle of the street blocking three roads, two others were closed for road works so all the traffic was being funnelled down one tiny road. It was gridlock because there's usually only space for one car to pull in and let others go, so if there are two cars going in each direction you sit there face to face unable to move in either direction.

I don't expect them to do it at 5 in the morning, but can't they wait until say 11am? We didn't even have the school run to contend with this morning, it's much much worse when we do.

Ok, rant over, give me your worst

OP posts:
Original poster
HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 11:16

Also... the evening rush hour isn't so clearly defined as the morning one iyswim. The majority of people do their morning commute around 7.30-8.30 (the majority ok? I appreciate some do earlier, some do later) but people tend to trickle home anywhere from 5pm to 9pm. I really don't think that if they were finishing off in the evening rush hour it would be such a problem as the morning one.

OP posts:
Original poster
HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 11:16

Crikey, what a palaver peachy.

OP posts:
Simplysally · 08/04/2009 11:17

Our bin men don't attempt going down a street if it's blocked and that goes on the daily report (with the car reg). They do go back each day to see if it's clear.

Can you tell I used to work for the refuse agency in my borough?

quornsilk · 08/04/2009 11:17

They probably start much earlier than 9. They come down our street at about 8.30 p.m. We're not very close to the depot so I suppose they start at about 7-7.30.

quornsilk · 08/04/2009 11:17

doh - 8.30 a.m!

dingledangle · 08/04/2009 11:19

YABU. The people that empty your bins probably work shifts and have other bins that they empty other than residential things. I have a relative who goes to work at midnight and works through the night doing just that!

Who do you think is out emptying all the other refuse bins that people throw their rubbish in to?

It is inconvenient but so are many other things in life.

If they emptied the bins earlier in the day you would moan that they woke you up. If they were emptied later you would be unhappy at the extra cost of paying for them to work late into the night!

Original poster
HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 11:19

chippingin... you're obviously of a more generous nature than I am. Presumably the bin men get held up too when there are gridlocked roads all around. Doesn't it make sense for everyone to work around the rush hour? Ok I know I'm flogging a dead horse here, but I convinced there's a better way. Not that it'll ever change, nothing ever does. And there's no way Wandsworth Council would ever do anything to benefit the community, they'd only do it if there was a way to make more money out of it.

OP posts:
Original poster
HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 11:21

dingledangle, believe me I would most definitely not moan if they were doing it at other times.

I'm not saying it's right for everyone, but surely in a congested London suburb it makes sense to do it at other times. The whole noise thing isn't really relevant as we're in London, it's not like you can hear a pin drop here anyway. Half the time I can hardly hear my own voice, one more lorry won't make any difference.

OP posts:
PeachyWithTheBirthdayBas · 08/04/2009 11:23

HF its that or they yellow line it (and if they did there'd be nowhere to aprk as whole area is congested all the time anyway, so they'd bring in residential parking which'd costa fortunre then the three Churches close by would be aghast and the tourists would be prevented from going to sops...... you get the pic LOL )

karise · 08/04/2009 11:50

We don't live in a city, but our bin men still insist on doing the bins around the side streets of our school at drop off time
Mind you, that doesn't worry as much as the times they leave the biins in the middle of the road, or when I've seen then urinate in our bin & leave it open to dry

cornflakegirl · 08/04/2009 11:51

I complained to our local council when the bin lorry was holding up a commuter / school run route. They apologised and said the team had been reminded to stay off that road at rush hour.

Original poster
HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 11:54

See cornflake girl, some councils are sensible.

Peachy - what a PITA. Our residents parking scheme only costs us £60 a year, but it does mean we don't get totally overrun with commuters (we're just down the road from Europe's busiest railway station)

OP posts:
BitOfFunnyBunny · 08/04/2009 11:57

I just think it may be outdated unionised local authority working practices

ABetaDad, I dread to think where we'd be without Trade Unions during this recession. The bosses would probably have us all working in denim skirts up chimneys...

jofeb04 · 08/04/2009 12:21

Lol @ Peachy's Road!

I know it well

katiestar · 08/04/2009 12:21

Maybe the council should paint double yellow lines down both sides of the narrow street then there wouldn't be a problem .You can't have it all ways !!

ABetaDad · 08/04/2009 12:26

BitOfFunnyBunny - I just mean that some unionised workforces refuse to change schedules in any way whatsoever. I do not mean necessarily working at night. I mean things like 'doing the side roads first rather than the main road during rush hour'.

Unionised workforces can be stupidly inflexible and use even the slightest request for a rescheduling of a job as a lever to demand higher pay or less hours.

onagar · 08/04/2009 12:34

I never did that job, but I shared a canteen with the bin men in the old days. They had smaller work loads then even though they collected every week, so it was more flexible. The tax payers complained that they wanted their bins emptied, but didn't expect to have to pay for it.

The answer was to make many of them redundent and increase the workload. Now they have no real choice about when/where to work as there is barely enough time to get it done.

You can have it all done at a time convenient for you if you want to pay 4 times as much for it.

PeachyWithTheBirthdayBas · 08/04/2009 12:44

JoFeb LOL- Bas's birthday yesterday you know .

My home HF is in a small town.... that manages to have a Uni, popular aschool, a few tourist attractions and no parking whatsoever LOL.

It's still lovely but a nightmare for parking is all; our main car goes by the church (only God can claim he lives there and AFAIK he dosn't drive or need aprking), DH parks the Smart car outside.

onagar · 08/04/2009 12:50

Love the idea of taking god's parking space.

If the car gets hit by a bolt of lightning you will never live it down

PeachyWithTheBirthdayBas · 08/04/2009 12:54

'S Ok, tree overhead will take it, will crash ont Vicarage LOL

RustyBunny · 08/04/2009 13:03

ABetaDad - if they did the side roads first and the main roads later, that would mean they'd have to go to the same area twice - waste of time and fuel.

pingping · 08/04/2009 13:09

HeadFairy I live in Wandsworth as well. The Bin men do have a lot of area to cover when I lived on the Henry prince estate they would come at 7am on a saturday Morning.. If you live on the grid in SF then I do see why it would annoy you as them little roads are painful enough without the binmen being there but they do have a job to do.

Contact your local MP with some kind of solution

Original poster
HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 13:44

oh yes please katiestar, big yellow lines down each side of the road, with just one marked parking space for me

OP posts:
Original poster
HeadFairy · 08/04/2009 13:47

pingping, we're between the commons, tiny narrow little roads, too many cars, too many people, not enough room. However last time I dared to make a suggestion to the council about parking (too many parking meters residents can't use, the balance was all wrong, empty meter bays and residents fighting for space) I was told to sell my car. They are rubbish.

OP posts:
PeachyWithTheBirthdayBas · 08/04/2009 13:54

The lady down from us ahs actually asked for everyone else to have yellowlines !!!! When actually she is the one with a garage as well.

She did mention us having a disabled spot but the place opposite is a home for asd adults witha cnstant stream of vehicles who could use it; so about 90% of the cars on our road could use that anyhow.