Draconian policies at St Albans recycling centre are ‘encouraging fly tipping’, says pick-up driver
Matthew Samples was asked to use his permit when discarding an empty cardboard box at the St Albans recycling centre because he owns a pickup truck - Credit: Archant
A pick-up truck driver has bawled out a recycling centre for its ‘ridiculous’ policies, which he says encourages fly tipping.
Matthew Samples, 46, of St Albans, was on his way to get petrol for his pick-up truck and do some shopping when he went to the St Albans Household Waste Recycling Centre in Ronson Way to drop off a small cardboard box.
Pick-up drivers are limited to 12 loads each year and have their permit stamped each time but Matthew was shocked to hear that the officers wanted to stamp his permit for such a small drop off.
He said: “I could have parked up outside and walked it in but I didn’t think I would need to do that. We could have driven my partner’s car but I needed to fill up the truck.
“I live in the area, I’m a resident and lots of people have pick-up trucks just because they like them.”
Matthew has made a formal complaint to the county council and although he is against fly tipping, he insists it is the council’s tight regulations that are part of the problem.
He said: “They’re discriminating against me because I have a pick-up truck; it’s stupid and I can totally see why people dump it when they have these rules in place.”
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Matthew added that the staff at the centre were very difficult to deal with. He commented: “They couldn’t tell me which one was in charge and who was running the dump. Obviously they know and if they don’t then they have no business working here.
“They were smiling at me the whole time.”
A spokesperson for Herts county council, which runs the household waste site, said: “The site manager was following the rules that apply to any resident using a van, pick-up truck, or any kind of commercial type vehicle, which means a permit is required for one item or a whole pick-up truck.
“There seems to have been a misunderstanding regarding a manager not being available, as the resident was speaking to the site manager, who provided his name and his supervisor’s. The site was not understaffed at the time as they had four members of staff present.”
