Rubbish could be left uncollected for a month

RUBBISH could be left uncollected for a month due to last week s bad weather. Refuse services in the St Albans district were suspended due to the snow and icy conditions but the accumulated waste will not be collected this week because the twin-bin syste

RUBBISH could be left uncollected for a month due to last week's bad weather.

Refuse services in the St Albans district were suspended due to the snow and icy conditions but the accumulated waste will not be collected this week because the twin-bin system has skipped a week.

If black bins were due to be emptied last week, the green bins will be emptied this week and vice-versa - leaving the waste uncollected for a month.

Tracey Bushell, of Marshalswick Lane, St Albans, who has two toddlers in nappies, said her rubbish, which is building up in black bin bags, had already been strewn over the driveway twice.

She saw other companies on the roads last week collecting waste and is angry that the district council didn't attempt to send out their services.

She said: "They absolutely couldn't care less - I've worked in the construction industry for many years and I know what health and safety means. Safety of operatives is paramount but they are just hiding behind it. The whole thing just seems preposterous."

Bob Slaney, of Bucknalls Drive, Bricket Wood, was expecting his black bin to be emptied on Friday. He said: "I am absolutely disgusted with it. I believe that instead of collecting green bins, they should leave them and collect the black bins this week. That would be the sensible idea as the green bins would be only left for three weeks and there is normally nothing in them anyway."

He added: "I went out last Monday and the conditions were horrendous. They had lots of time that they could have collected it during the rest of the week. There is no excuse, the roads were not perfect but the fact of the matter is if the postman comes every day and the milkman comes every day these people should."

Irene Rolfe, of Beech Crescent, Wheathampstead, has also been left with her black bin waste and said: "I think it is disgusting they the dustbin men and teachers skive off while everyone else had to find there way to work. We have three people in this house who used their cars."

A spokesperson for the district council apologised for not keeping to the normal schedule and added: "Having lost virtually a week during which collections were missed, we simply don't have the capacity to do a fortnight's collections in a week."

She explained that the council had decided that it would cause less disruption if contractors caught up with collections next week rather than rescheduled them.