Tight-fisted council told to clean up its act

Michael Grubb. of Ashbank Court in Glenrothes. told the Gazette he was left shocked and angered when council bin men, conducting the regular landfill collection, set about destroying the furniture on his driveway before discarding the broken pieces in the landfill vehicle.

“You can imagine my astonishment when having organised and paid the council £25 for what is deemed a ‘special uplift’ because I was trying to do the right thing and recycle the unwanted furniture, resulted in council staff kicking and hammering it to pieces before tossing it in the bucket,” said Mr Grubb.

“There was broken glass, screws and other debris left on my drive and. to make things even worse. my wife injured her hand on the broken glass when having to clean up the mess after they had left.

“Ironically, the neighbour who came to help us with the clean up is the wife of a Glenrothes councillor.

“I assumed the items would be recycled according to council policy. Had I known, I would have taken it to the recycling centre myself and saved myself £25.”

And Mr Grubb said he has given up hope of tight-fisted council refunding the fee,

“Despite numerous repeated requests for a refund of my £25 it was never forthcoming, and I gave up after being passed interminably around the council telephone system,” he said.

Responding to the complaint, Derek Crowe, senior manager, engineering and waste service, said:“We take every complaint seriously and reassure that Mr Grubb’s concerns have been fully investigated.

“We acknowledge that the initial advice regarding the breaking up of furniture at the kerbside was incorrect and additional training has already taken place to ensure this does not happen again.

“As soon as we were made aware of the broken glass, crews attended to clear up the debris.”

And he added that it was standard procedure for Fife Council that items, other than white goods, would be collected on the next landfill collection day and they would not generally be recycled.

“This is why we encourage people to donate to local charities, who often collect items for free, or suggest that wherever possible, customers take items to a recycling centre, which is also free,” Mr Crowe added.