A Hove woman was left frustrated after waiting more than four months for a garden waste bin she paid for in January.
Heather Liardet, who lives in Bigwood Avenue, Hove, ordered the bin in mid January, paying £90 for a year’s collections, and was told it would arrive within 28 working days.
After months of back and forth by telephone and email it had still not come. Once 91 working days had passed, Ms Liardet contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
She said: “I have received several emails from council officers. All of these emails have more or less been the same, except one, which told me I would receive my bin on 18 April.
“When I didn’t receive it, I was then told no exact date could be given. I am unable to drive to the waste recycling facility.
“I wonder how many other services the council is taking money for but not delivering.”
Ms Liardet sent her first email to chase up the bin on Wednesday 1 April, and heard back from environmental services a week later, that her subscription was being moved to start on Saturday 18 April.
On Monday 20 April she emailed again as there was still no sign of the bin.
At this point she was told a delivery date could not be confirmed as there was a backlog of delays.
At the end of April she contacted her Goldsmid ward councillors and received a response from councillor Trevor Muten and now ex-councillor Jackie O’Quinn, who asked that the bin be made a priority – but it still didn’t turn up.
Finally, after contacting the Local Democracy Reporting Service a month later, the garden waste bin arrived on Friday, 29 May.
She has since been told the year’s subscription will now start from the end of May.
She added: “Needless to say the bin is full. The garden is looking a lot tidier.”
Councillor Tim Rowkins, deputy leader and cabinet member for net zero and environmental services at Brighton and Hove City Council, said: “Unfortunately, an internal error meant that although this resident had paid for the garden waste service, that order was not added to our system as expected. This issue has now been resolved.
“The bin has now been delivered but clearly the resident should not have had to wait that long.
“We’re sorry for that delay and are grateful to them for their patience.
“We are experiencing a backlog in bin deliveries locally and are working hard to reduce waiting times.”
So much to unpick here abt the councillors response.
1. Cllr Tim Rowkins says “Unfortunately, an internal error meant that although this resident had paid for the garden waste service, that order was not added to our system as expected. This issue has now been resolved.”
2. Yet Cllr Tim Rowkins (Bin Tim) also says “We are experiencing a backlog in bin deliveries locally and are working hard to reduce waiting times.” This seems to contradict the first excuse Bin Tim gives, ie that it was an internal error so her order wasn’t added to the right system as it should have been. So why does Bin Tim (BT) then put out a further excuse, which implies the problem was connected to the delays with bin deliveries if the cause in this instance, was as BT said, a problem logging this resident’s order.
3. Or is BT suggesting this resident was impacted by BOTH an internal error AND then a backlog the council has with getting bins to residents. No pun intended, but that really sounds rubbish and like a poorly functioning council if residents are being impacted by multiple issues on something which presumably should be quite straightforward, like ordering a bin.
4. If what Bin Tim is saying is correct about it being an internal error which led to her order not being picked up, why was the error not picked up when she chased the council up on multiple occasions to find out what was going on. Did nobody check on whatever system the council use that the bin had ACTUALLY been ordered. Surely that would be the first thing the council should do when getting an enquiry about a bin order ie check the status of the order on the ordering system. Why does BT not give ANY reason for the council failing (on multiple occasions) to check council systems and see there was a problem.
5. While at the end of April former Labour councillor Jackie O’Quinn, (who by that time was sitting as an independent councillor having left the Labour Party) does seem to have at least tried to find out what was happening and asked the council to ‘make it a priority’ why did nobody check if there was a problem then. Why did it take a further month. Was it still the order error behind the whole saga, or was it by now simply the delay with bin deliveries.
7. I note BT makes no reference to whether any other people who have not received bins because of the ‘delay’ will have their subscriptions backdated to the point they receive their bins. Perhaps this resident was only told their subscription start date would be pushed back only after being contacted by Brighton and Hove News.
8. Does BT just make it up as he goes along?