9:00am Wednesday 9th April 2008
By Justin Dunn
A DISABLED widow was left without any waste collection service after she collapsed trying to take her wheelie bin to the street.
Throat-cancer sufferer Ruby Wheatley collapsed in her driveway in February as she tried to pull her bin to the kerb in Reeds Avenue West, Leasowe.
But since being discharged from Arrowe Park Hospital, her bins were not collected and she instead paid a neighbour £5 a week for her rubbish to be taken to the tip in West Kirby.
Wirral Council, which had previously fitted a stairlift in her home, promised Mrs Wheatley extra help with her bins and listed her for "assisted collection" with bins contractor Biffa. But from then on, the collection crews just drove past her home.
"I pay my council tax and was delighted when they said they could help take my bin from the side of my home to the kerb, but the service has never appeared," she said.
"I have been leaning out of my window appealing for the crew not to walk past but they just waved and my bins were left.
"All I want is my bins emptied!"
Mrs Wheatley contacted Streetscene every week since February but in spite of the promises the bins remained unemptied - until the Globe stepped in on Monday.
After we contacted the council, they demanded Biffa visit Ruby that day to remove her rubbish.
Mrs Wheatley contacted Ian Lewis, Conservative candidate for Leasowe and Moreton East, who said: "The council installed a stairlift because of her ill health but getting her bins emptied seemed beyond them.
"Ruby is a proud woman who pays her taxes and lives by the rules. Sadly, these qualities seem to count for nothing these days. For all her patience and polite calls to the council she has, like others, been lost in the system.
"This two-star council needs to realise that it is their job to provide a waste collection service that works before it has the nerve to start issuing spot fines on residents."
A council spokeswoman said: "We are aware that
Mrs Wheatley's bin has not been collected on occasions, and have ensured that Biffa have returned to collect it.
"We have already escalated the matter to Biffa managers. We are working together with Biffa to monitor Mrs Wheatley's bin collections, and others on the assisted collection list, to ensure they are carried out after these initial errors." Biffa depot manager Mark Hodkinson told the Globe: "We would like to extend our most sincere apologies to Mrs Wheatley for this oversight.
"We have now cleared the rubbish away and we will be making every effort to ensure this does not happen again."
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