Man wins five month stand-off with council over bin mystery

The council declared residents will be charged for replacement bins

A man has won a five month stand-off with his council over replacing a bin damaged by refuse workers.

CCTV footage shows binmen returning Tim Spencer’s wheelie bin without a lid in May, but the council refused to send him a free replacement.

They said he would have to pay £25 to replace it himself as the binmen hadn’t reported damaging it and the lid would have come off through wear and tear.

And when he complained his lidless bin was filing up with rainwater he claims they told him to drill holes in the bottom of it.

But after five months of back-and-forth without them budging, a Maidstone Borough Council worker finally delivered a free new green bin.

Tim had not received any email or notification that a new bin was finally on its way.

Tim Spencer with his new bin (Tim Spencer / SWNS)

The 56-year-old from Barming in Kent, said: “I was drinking a cup of tea and said to my wife ‘oh, there’s a chap outside and he’s unloading a green bin.’

“I thought that must be the bin but we had received no notification or email. He just rocks up and dropped off a new bin, no notification at all.”

The council worker reportedly told him: “I was here yesterday but you weren’t in.’”

“I said ‘I didn’t know you were coming, it was news to me I was getting a replacement bin.’”

“’Your bosses at the council didn’t believe it’s broken.’

“He said, ‘well, it’s missing it’s lid and it’s off its hinges, so it’s broken.’’

The council worker carted off the old bin and the new one even had the number two painted on it for his address.

Mr Spencer said he wouldn’t be emailing the council again about the bin.

Workers returned his brown bin with a split too, but he decided not to raise that with the council.

He said: “One of my neighbours said we don’t want our brown bin anymore, so do you want it?

“I didn’t mention that to the council, I just left that one.

“But all’s well that ends well.”

Maidstone Borough Council have been approached for comment.

Last April the council declared residents will be charged for replacement bins, in an attempt to mop up £100,000 from the waste collection budget.

Locals complained the charges were unfair because bin men often break the bins themselves when loading the rubbish.

Maidstone Council U-turned, deciding bins will be replaced for free if the bin men report a problem, rather than the owner.

As a result, Mr Spencer thought he was in with a chance of the council waiving his £25 fee.

But at the time the council’s waste service officer Tim Stanley wrote: “If the issue is that your bin has no lid, then the council will not be replacing this free of charge.

“We are authorised to replace bins that are unserviceable. But any without lids can still be loaded onto the collection vehicle.

“You will need to order your replacement on the MBC website and pay the £25 charge, if you wish to have a new bin with a lid.”