A BOLTON family claim their dustbin has become a health hazard after rubbish collectors refused to empty it for three weeks.

Kirk Crockford and his pregnant girlfriend, Wendy Allen, both aged 17, recently moved into their Grantchester Way council house.

But three weeks ago, after Kirk had filled it with household rubbish and grass clippings, binmen passed it by.

Last week, when the binmen came around again, they passed by the bin once more and a sticker was put on it saying the bin was too heavy.

Kirk's mother, Kim Crockford, has taken up the issue with the council and claims the wheelie bin cannot have been too heavy because Kirk managed to get it out of the garden and up steps to the pavement.

"If Kirk can get it up five steps it can't be that heavy. They are wheelie bins so the binmen don't even have to lift them," she said.

Kirk removed some of the rubbish from the bin to make it lighter but he was horrified when binmen passed it by again this week and got into a dispute with the refuse collectors when he threw bin bags into the back of their lorry himself.

"With the hot weather, the rubbish smells awful," said Mrs Crockford.

Mrs Crockford and Kirk moved to Bolton from Essex three years ago and she says she is beginning to wonder whether her son is being victimised because of his Southern accent.

"That is the way it seems," she said.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said that the bin was still too heavy when binmen called this week.

"One of our inspectors has been to meet him to ask him to lighten it," he said, adding that arrangements will be made for the bin to be emptied.

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