WE’VE BIN ATTACKED Green rules spark record assaults on refuse teams
Another day, another meltdown for Sarah Harding in the Celebrity Big Brother house. She fails to grasp the main rule of the game – in fact the entire crux of the show! – NO contact with the outside world. RECORD numbers of binmen are being assaulted and abused – many by people furious at recycling rules.
Council rubbish collectors are being punched, driven into, spat at, threatened with knives, egged and headbutted by angry residents and motorists.
Last year there were 393 incidents, a leap of 27 per cent from 12 months before.
Some binmen were assaulted after explaining to householders that they had sorted their rubbish for recycling incorrectly.
Others were abused because people were annoyed that extra sacks were not collected.
And bin lorry workers were attacked in road-rage incidents by drivers annoyed at being stuck behind the truck.
In the most serious assault, a yob was jailed for attacking a man with a Second World War bayonet for refusing to empty a recycling bin because it was contaminated with household waste in Walsall, West Mids.
Another thug tried to headbutt a binman – also for refusing to take contaminated recycled waste – in Ashfield, Notts, while residents in Chiltern, Bucks, attacked two men for the same reason.
In Manchester, an irate householder attacked a refuse lorry crew and set off a fire extinguisher through the cab window.
Road rage attacks left one collector with a broken skull in North Warwickshire, while another was beaten with a motorcycle helmet in Broxbourne, Herts.
Crews were also egged by children, attacked by rough sleepers, driven into by motorists, shot at with catapults and subjected to racist abuse.
In December last year, Simon Halabi, once the 12th richest man in Britain, was cleared of racially abusing and assaulting a binman in Mayfair, London. Halabi claimed the bin lorry was blocking his Bentley and in the fracas he used racist language, but he was cleared after telling the court “I didn’t mean it in a racist way”.
Many of the incidents were disclosed in freedom of information responses from councils across England.
The Local Government Association said: “Abuse and assaults are utterly unacceptable and councils will push for the strongest possible action from the courts to protect their staff, including jail sentences.
“The overwhelming majority of the public are happy with the way that their bins are collected.
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to waste collection services and councils will always work with residents in order to offer t hem t he best service possible.”