RUBBISH chiefs at Stratford District Council (SDC) have apologised after leaving a resident feeling unsafe in her own home due to their repeated refuse collection blunders.
A Stratfordian, who does not wish to be named, got in touch with the Observer to say that on at least three separate occasions she was astonished to witness refuse collectors entering her back garden to collect her bin. She explained she had not put it out for collection as it was virtually empty.
She said the bin men knocked over flower pots and furniture along the way, and appeared to have gone through three other properties’ gardens en route to hers.
The terrified resident continued: “On one of the occasions I saw it happening I asked the man why he was there. He just kept saying that he’d been sent to get the bin, as if that excused it.
“They are making me feel unsafe in my own home and it seems there is nothing I can do to stop them. My multiple complaints appear to be having no effect even though they are trespassing.”
A spokesperson for SDC said the council sincerely apologised for what had happened and blamed it on a system glitch which had repeatedly thrown up a “missed bin” alert for this particular property.
The spokesperson stressed that this appeared to be an isolated incident and they would be contacting the resident to offer the council’s apologies.
They explained: “From checking the system it appears that a missed bin was reported at this address, but then when the crews went back to collect the ‘missed bin’, it had not been put out for collection and that was why they entered the property and garden. “However, it was then reported as a missed bin again in error and despite trying to up-date the system and cancel it, the crews went ahead to collect as a ‘missed bin’.
“Nevertheless, it does not excuse how the crew entered the property and this should not have happened and we are very sorry for this and have contacted the resident to offer our apologies and hopefully resolve this problem.”
