Huddersfield man ‘absolutely effusive’ says his bins were only emptied once every two months

A Huddersfield man is considering stopping his monthly Council Tax payments for what he called a bin collection service.

Paul Brennan says his bins – brown and green – have only been emptied once in almost two months.

Paul, of Eldon Road in Marsh, Huddersfield, says he has complained to Kirklees Council several times and earlier this week also complained that a neighbour’s empty bins were attracting rodents.

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It is now threatening to withhold monthly Council Tax payments until the “shambolic” situation is resolved. He contacted Yorkshire Live and said: “I rang the council five times and spoke to four different people. My bins haven’t been emptied in two months and I don’t want rats in my house.

“The bins were emptied once every two months. I must have emailed them 20 times.”

Paul says a neighbor’s bins haven’t been collected in a while either. He said the bins were full of waste and some black bags containing rubbish were stored in a passage.

He had to dispose of seven or eight bags of trash himself, leaving it next to a dumpster in Marsh. The “shambolic” situation left him “absolutely fired up”.

“This council is not fit for purpose,” he argued, echoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s words in November.

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Paul says the problem has been complicated by the changes to rubbish collection days, but says he put his bins out the night before, but says the bin waggon went past and didn’t collect his bins.

In an email to Kirklees on May 21, Paul wrote: “I just saw the bin go past my house and ignored my bin and (the neighbour’s bin) but emptied the rest.”

A waste complaints officer apologized and said the crew would return to collect bins and “remove all waste” from outside a neighbour’s home.

The officer added: “I appreciate your frustration and apologize for the delay in this.”

Earlier this month the council told Paul that the bins might be missing from his neighbour’s bins for a reason and that the resident concerned would need to contact Kirklees.

A spokesman for Kirklees Council said Yorkshire Live: “We are aware of repeated collection issues on Eldon Road in Marsh.

“This was caused by a vehicle blocking the rear lane, therefore our crews were unable to collect a number of bins on their regular rounds.

“We apologize to the residents of Eldon Road who were left out of our reminders and are working to rectify this as soon as possible and are in the process of sending letters to affected residents.

“Our teams try to recall throughout the week, but if they can’t get access, they can’t collect. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by missed collections and ask all residents to be courteous when parking and consider what access is required, not just for the bin. collections, but that of the emergency services”.