WHEN wheeled bins first came on the scene, a lady wrote in to say that she had to put her bin onto the pavement on collection days as her property, like many others, fronted onto the road.
She was worried because by doing so, she was breaking the law – the implication being that if there was an accident of any sort caused by the bin, she would be liable.
The council replied with a typical bland and vague statement on the lines of 'W
e'll have to look at that if and when it happens.' Not a very heartening response.
Knowing that it is illegal to have a wheeled bin on the pavement, we place ours just inside our boundary, as do several other people in our road on collection days, thus keeping well within the law.
Why is it then that, after emptying, the bin-men do not return the bins to where they found them but leave them on the pavements?
If one happens to be at home, the bin can be retrieved safely.
But what about those people who are out at work all day? What if one of their bins causes an accident? By all the rules of fair play, the council and their binmen should be liable.
Will Kirklees confirm this? It will be interesting to see if they try, as I'm sure they will, to wriggle off that hook.
But before they do, may I stress that it is their employees who are illegally leaving all the bins on the pavement.
Further, I hope that their reply does not include a stupid statement to the effect that if people are out at work they should arrange for a neighbour to retrieve their bin.
What if the the neighbours are out or away? It is not our responsibility to retrieve the bins from the pavement, especially if we have not put them there in the first place. The bin-men should return them to where they found them.
GRAHAM A SCHOFIELD
Beech Way
BIRSTALL
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