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'I've bin left mad by jobsworth officers'
From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Friday 7th Jan 2005.
A BLACKBURN man has blasted "jobsworth" council workers for refusing to empty his recycling bin after he left it a few metres short of the collection point.
And he is fuming that recycling officers leant over the box they said was too far away, to post a note explaining their decision.
Michael Smith, 46, of New Wellington Close, placed the box in the relatively sheltered spot outside his front door, but still in view of the collectors, after fearing it would blow away in strong winds. But he woke up on Wednesday to find the note.
It read: "Sorry we have been unable to empty your recycling box. Your box should be placed at the front edge of your property on the adopted highway."
The machinist, who lives with his two children and partner Jacqueline Mackley said: "It's infuriating. What gets me is they would have had to lean over it to put the note through the door. Everybody on this row keeps them outside their front doors.
"If we put them at the end of the garden kids would kick them and the wind could blow them away. My box was only two car lengths from the edge of the drive.
"I could understand if it was full and heavy, but it only had a few cans in it - my three-year-old daughter could have carried it. I can't believe anybody could have the stupidity to put a note through the door like this."
Blackburn with Darwen Council Director of Direct Services Peter Hunt said: "If all residents placed the boxes at their front doors, rather than at the end of their driveways as requested, the time needed for collectors to travel the extra distance would cause the service to over-run severely."
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