Woman forced to hire skip after bin collections failure

REFUSE CHAOS BREWING IN BIRMINGHAM EVEN BEFORE STRIKE STARTED

- ALEXANDER BROCK Local Democracy Reporter

BIRMINGHAM City Council was forced to apologise and pay out to a resident who endured misery after numerous missed collections in 2024.

The Labour-run council “repeatedly failed” to collect communal waste containers, which led to an accumulation of rubbish near her block of flats.

She felt compelled to hire a skip at her own expense to dispose of the waste, a watchdog which investigates council complaints revealed in a report.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman concluded the council had caused “difficulties and financial expense” for the woman, adding it had agreed to pay her £300 to recognise the frustration and £168 for the cost of the skip.

The episode was symptomatic of a waste issues that were already plaguing the authority before the strike began and unreliable bin collections were a recurring concern in several neighbourhoods last year.

Areas such as Edgbaston, Bartley Green, Selly Park, Northfield, Harborne and Sutton Coldfield were all reportedly affected by missed collections.