Would this happen in Bexhill?

Go to Bexhill and the streets are clean, verges mown, rubbish cleared. In Rye, however………We reproduce here the verbatim correspondence between one Rye citizen and Rother District Council, in his attempt to get a rubbish bin emptied.

Sunday June 26

Dear Ms Mason and Councillor Russell

Once again (the fourth time this year?) you have failed to collect my refuse. This time on Thursday 23 June. A big full bin of garden waste. And may I remind you I pay extra for this so-called service.

I’ve logged it on your utterly useless website notification service! Why useless? Because you send a patronising email note of receipt and then do absolutely nothing about it.

I’ve left the bin at the entrance to my property all weekend while I was away and have come back to find that it has additional stuff in the top of it – lots of plastic coffee cups and chip containers, paper and plastic wrappers. And two bags of dog turds that hadn’t been tied up and were split as I found as I got the shit all over my hand when taking the bags out to dispose of properly! The public have been making use of it as a bin. I am disgusted!!

This coming Sunday 3rd July my garden is open for a fund raiser for a local charity and I will need to do tidying in advance. Where do I put the garden waste? Not in the bin (which should be empty if you or your contractors or sub contractors or whoever you get to do your dirty work actually did it!) as it is full! Cheers!!!!!

And I have to squeeze past the bin to get in and out of my home as I’ve been told to leave it there till someone might come along from the council or its incompetent contractors and collect it. Before the next due collection of July 7?

May I remind you I have just paid an additional sum of money for this ‘service’.

Please pull your fingers out and remove the garden waste tomorrow Monday 27th June.

Yours revoltedly

Andy Stuart

Tuesday June 28  09:16am

Dear Mr Stuart,
Thank you for notifying me of the missed garden waste collection and for reporting it through the website.
The web notification is passed directly to the contractor to return to collect.
I’ll instruct the contractor to deal with this as soon as possible.
Regards,
Brenda
Brenda Mason
Service Manager Community and Economy
Rother District Council

Tuesday June 28 11:43am

Dear Brenda

I understand other garden waste bins weren’t collected in the near vicinity so I can gain some comfort in knowing this isn’t individual victimisation.

But this is very disappointing.

Please advise what I am to do with the waste that I will collect today preparing my open garden at the weekend!

Please also advise what I am to do with all the other waste that is being put into my bin every day whilst it waits in the forlorn hope of being collected by the paid operatives (paid by me) – more coffee cups, empty spray paint tins etc?

Cheers

Andy Stuart

Friday July 1   1:55pm

Dear Ms Mason and Councillor Ampthill

Nothing has happened – no collection a week after the failure to do so and it was reported to you. As a matter of urgency can you tell me whether they will come today or this weekend as I am getting very, very angry having to squeeze past a damp bin each time I leave my house? As I have an open garden for charity I will have to move it on Sunday and I would be extremely angry if the contractors choose that day to fulfil their (paid) duty and the bin isn’t there!

Any tips on what to do with the garden waste I have collected this week but can’t put in the full bin?

And is the next ‘normal’ collection of 7 July for Garden Refuse going to prove to be the contractor’s idea of what is ‘as soon as possible’?

Yours disappointedly

Andy Stuart

Friday July 1   2:44pm

Dear Mr Stuart,
I’m so sorry to hear that the contractor has not picked up your garden waste.
We have again instructed that the contractor return to collect and it would be useful to leave your bin out as much as possible over the weekend.
Unfortunately I’m not able to guarantee that the crew will take excess waste presented by the bin.

Please accept my apologies for this inconvenience.

Regards,
Brenda

Sunday July 3  1:15pm

Dear Council Representatives

Still no collection of the full garden refuse bin which is still blocking the entrance to my property.

Yesterday, Saturday 2nd July, under a layer of plastic wrappers etc on the top layer that people stuffed in it I found a bits of a smashed up glass jam jar! I had to carefully remove these from the green waste underneath, running the risk of a gashing. I was OK, but would it be your insurance that would pay out in the event of injury? Would I have been blamed had your operatives injured themselves?

Today, a couple of dog poo bags with said stuff inside on top of the contents in the bin. Nice…

Please remove the refuse immediately – Monday 4th July.

Your inactivity (or your contractor’s refusal to fulfil its contract) is beyond the joke now.

Can you please explain what is the point of notifying you if you do nothing whatsoever about it! Consequently, please take the notification ‘service’ down from your website.

Your disgustedly

Andy Stuart

Wednesday July 6   7:15pm

Dear Ms Mason and Cllr Anthill

7.00pm on Weds 6th July and my garden waste hasn’t been collected! Two weeks after (first) notifying you they had failed to do so on the designated date. Two weeks of daily fishing beer cans, chip trays, large shards of glass and many dog turds out of the bin that members of the public stuffed in as they passed as I had to leave it next to the street (and on your express advice/command/diktat that I should do so) in the vain hope that your operatives might do their jobs and collect it. I have been inconvenienced, had my hands covered in canine ordure and risked cutting myself badly.

Of course the contractors haven’t collected. Why would they? There’s no come back!

It’s like living in the old Soviet Union! Seemingly no concept whatsoever of public service or any attempt to deliver it!

Only difference, they don’t pump dead members of the Rother Cabinet with formaldehyde and put them on display in a crystal box in Bexhill People’s Pavilion for grateful citizens to view! There’s a thought…

Yours outraged

Andy Stuart

To date, the correspondence has ended there and we wait to here whether Mr Stuart’s bin of garden waste has finally been emptied.