TREVOR Ward got 'wheelie mad' when the binmen continually forgot to empty away his rubbish...

And in a fit of 'bin rage' the Leigh man decided to let the council see the problem first hand.

He pushed his full wheelie bin for half a mile into, and through, the shopping centre up to the Town Hall's Council Tax department - and left it there.

Trevor of Irvine Street, Leigh, said: "I told them 'Perhaps you can get it emptied, I can't'."

Adding that he wanted it back, emptied, in time for his next collection, he then went home, leaving several bemused council officers behind.

The problem started last Wednesday, when, according to Mr Ward, despite being the first of his neighbours to put the bin out in front of his house, his was the only bin left full.

Several days - and promises to empty the bin - later, Trevor finally decided to take drastic action. He explained: "I had taken my bin out to be emptied at 5.40 in the morning and yet while everyone else's bin was emptied, mine was left full to the brim. "This was the second time this had happened. I telephoned the refuse department the following day at 10am but was told I would be too late for collection on that day, and it would probably be emptied Friday morning.

"Then it became Friday afternoon and when they didn't arrive for that, they switched the collection to Saturday morning. It moved to the afternoon and then to Monday morning. By Monday afternoon I rang the depot again checking it would definitely be emptied on that day.

"The man I spoke to said he was not sure so at that point I went down to the main depot at Leigh, but was told they had only received the call to empty the bin at 11am and might not be able to get there on that day.

"I told them if they did not empty it in 10 minutes, I would take it to the Town Hall, but I do not think he believed me.

"I have a suspect hernia and where I live I am unable to leave the bin outside the house and cannot fit it in the side passage. This has meant I have had to drag the bin out every morning and every afternoon for absolutely nothing.

"In addition it was starting to smell. Why should I have to put up with that when I pay my council tax?"

Trevor, who lives with his wife, Patricia and their young daughter, Rebeccah, aged three, is now waiting for the return of his bin. He said: "The rubbish is already mounting up and I have told the council that if they do not return my bin to me, the bin men will have to clear away my bin bags."

A council spokesman said: "We condemn absolutely his actions. Taking a full bin into the Town Hall area where there are reception staff and other members of the public who have nothing to do with the situation, is totally unacceptable.

"The reason given for the bin not being emptied on the day, was that he had failed to put the bin out. Normally people would be expected to wait until the following week.

"They work on a very tight schedule and there is not a lot of slack for them to come to empty individual bins, but in this case the collectors were going to empty the bin yesterday (Tues).

"It has been now taken to the cleansing department where it has been emptied and will be returned to Mr Ward in due course."

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