Missed collection

SIR, — I am writing to voice my outrage at St Albans District Council for the way they are handling or, in fact, refusing to handle the rubbish and recycling issues during this period of cold weather. Driving around St Albans on Sunday afternoon, it was c

SIR, - I am writing to voice my outrage at St Albans District Council for the way they are handling or, in fact, refusing to handle the rubbish and recycling issues during this period of cold weather. Driving around St Albans on Sunday afternoon, it was clear to see that the latest information from the council on the lack of rubbish collection had not reached any local households.

The black bins that were due to be emptied in my area last week were littering the streets along with other bin bags as residents had run out of room in their bins. This would not have been so bad if there was any hope of the bins being emptied in the next couple of days, but as of Sunday morning, the council's website was saying that last week's refuse collection would not take place and so these black bins and excess rubbish would not be collected for another week-and-a-half! I dread to think of the state of our local streets by then.

This information had been changed over the weekend as I had been checking the website every day and all last week it was updated on a daily basis saying that the collections would happen. I understand that the weather slowed all services down but I do not think that a few inches of snow should really have ground our entire district refuse collection to a halt for nearly a week.

I believe that the council should be working overtime to clear this excess waste and communicate more effectively with the public over this issue. Expecting an average family to cope with four weeks worth of unemptied rubbish is totally unacceptable.

NIKKI WARD,

Woodland Drive, St Albans.