Banned from recycling

Classic33

My local council have banned me from recycling using any of their facilities, purely & simply because I cycled to the recycling centres.
How this will work out when they make it compulsory I can only wait & see. Problem for them is that they put it in writing.

Bronzie

What is their reasoning behind this?

One for the local paper to cover I think!

Classic33

The "reasoning" is that because I use a Brox, those working on site or others using the site will be unable to see me.
Also that should the backof the lorry fall off & onto me it would kill me.It wouldn't however kill a person who arrived in a motor vehicle!!

cougie

So presumably they dont let people out of their cars at the recycling site ?
How about if you wear a hi viz vest ?

Simon Notley

But presumably you machine is road-legal? If their site is really that dangerous, then I think they should be reconsidering allowing members of the public in at all!

Classic33

It would make no diifference, as a person who arrives by pedalcycle the skips in use can only kill me,Drivers have their cars for protection

cougie

So drivers never get out of their cars on this site ?

robbarker

Sounds like one for the papers. Ring the newsdesk at your local rag!

Where is this by the way! Any argy bargy with the staff there to provoke it?

cannonfodder

and the guardian and radio 4 - they'd have a field day

Classic33

robbarker wrote:

Sounds like one for the papers. Ring the newsdesk at your local rag!

Where is this by the way! Any argy bargy with the staff there to provoke it?

Calderdale, with the ban in operation across the whole of it.
Its not the staff at the site that have banned me, no trouble with them. Its one of those higher up that have banned me.

cougie

Is there more to this than you're telling us ?

Classic33

cougie wrote:

Is there more to this than you're telling us ?

Can't see what more could be said.
I've upset the local council by being willing & able to recycle. The problem comes about because of my means of getting to the sites, Brox quad.
Legal road vehicle, can carry a sizeable load or a outsized load. How many cars could take a 6" fridge freezer in the boot?
Not done for profit, done because I had no other means of getting it there that didn't involve me having to pay someone else to shift it for me. Garden waste also taken on a regular basis, prior to being banned.

cougie

A 6 inch fridge freezer ?

Fair enough then - just seems to be a bit odd that they've gone to the bother of banning you. How did the high ups get your name and address ? If the guys at the recycling havent got any problems with you - how did it get escalated ?

Local paper seems a good option.

chuckcork

If health and safety is that much of an issue for someone on a bike there, I hate to think how much more dangerous it is for employees who are there everyday?

ColinJ

Classic33 wrote:

robbarker wrote:

Sounds like one for the papers. Ring the newsdesk at your local rag!

Where is this by the way! Any argy bargy with the staff there to provoke it?

Calderdale, with the ban in operation across the whole of it.
Its not the staff at the site that have banned me, no trouble with them. Its one of those higher up that have banned me.

I was going to say that we have the same crap in Calderdale, but I now see that you are talking about here!

Pedestrians are also banned (fatuous rules here). I would use the nearby Eastwood recycling plant but since I don't have a car I'm not allowed to! I could cycle or walk there with a rucksack full of waste and stand at the entrance watching people getting out of their cars 10 metres away, but I'm not allowed to walk those 10 metres to join them. I am of course perfectly entitled to walk across the 10 metres wide entrance to the plant as the people in their cars are trying to drive in!

Classic33

No where in those rules does it say that I'm not allowed in on a Brox.

ColinJ

Classic33 wrote:

No where in those rules does it say that I'm not allowed in on a Brox.

"All access has to be vehicular" so I suppose you have to say that the Brox is a vehicle. Given that it isn't a "car, 4x4 or people carrier" you wouldn't be able to get in without a recycling permit. To apply for the recycling permit you need to "show a valid driving licence" - aaaaaaaaaaargh :evil:!

downfader

No win no fee? Launch legal action stating that the council needs to update its fascilities to suit modern times?

I think its the same here in Southampton - only cars/4wheel motorised domestic vehicles. If councils want to keep up with modern times they should have provisions in place - we pay our taxes do we not!

I would agree - write to the local paper, also your MP. Perhaps you should be reinbursed for all the tax you've paid and the services you've not been entitled to? :?

Incidentally perhaps an email to equalities@calderdale.gov.uk would be benficial to the calderdale people?

synchronicity

This is bureaucratic stupidity at its finest. Makes me kinda proud to live in a disorganised country... :?

Is this the Brox that you refer to?

Classic33

synchronicity wrote:

This is bureaucratic stupidity at its finest. Makes me kinda proud to live in a disorganised country... :?

Is this the Brox that you refer to?

Thats the one, mine is missing the box on the back.

Classic33

cougie wrote:

A 6 inch fridge freezer ?

Fair enough then - just seems to be a bit odd that they've gone to the bother of banning you. How did the high ups get your name and address ? If the guys at the recycling havent got any problems with you - how did it get escalated ?

Local paper seems a good option.

Sorry that should have been six foot, not six inch.

Its those higher up that escalated it, having seen how I arrived. Check Lee Bridge on the site given earlier. From there it was a three mile journey back home, uphill.

Special K

Just seen this and I am staggered by the level of stupidity the original poster has been subjected to.

It's fantastic that some council worker is so secure in their job that they have the time to come up with this nonsense. In the context of seismic shifts in the labour market that will occur follwing the turmoil in the City, this sort of behaviour almost defies the laws of physics let alone practical economics and good sense.

natrix

Our local council have the same regulations. The reason that they are in place is that some people would turn up, see the queue of cars, park near the ntrance and start ferrying their stuff by foot, up and down the entrance ramps. You then had a mixture of moving well laden vehicles with restricted visibility and well laden pedestrians with restricted visibility. To be fair to the council, I could see their point it was a dangerous situation, so they made people stay in their cars, hence the ban on pedestrians.

There's lots of recycling facilities in supermarket car parks, can't you use those by bike???

ColinJ

Since the original discussion, there has been an article in the local paper about Calderdale council's new 'Risk assesment strategy". Apparently the council has an ever-increasing insurance burden to cover the cost of claims against them. The response was to look at every aspect of council activity to try and minimise the chances of them getting sued. In this case, somebody thought that there was an obvious risk of a law-suit should anybody hurt themselves walking in with an old microwave oven (whatever). To be honest, it is the council's job to keep costs down. The real blame probably lies with the UK's increasing 'compensation-culture' and companies like InjuryLawyers4U.com.

Classic33

Fair enough if you attempting to just walk in, but I used to arrive on what the law in this country classifies as legal road vehicle.
Once on the sites you effectivley become a pedestrian when walking between vehicle & skip.

Don't think I've ever seen anyone walk in carrying a fridge though.

Classic33

ColinJ wrote:

Since the original discussion, there has been an article in the local paper about Calderdale council's new 'Risk assesment strategy". Apparently the council has an ever-increasing insurance burden to cover the cost of claims against them. The response was to look at every aspect of council activity to try and minimise the chances of them getting sued. In this case, somebody thought that there was an obvious risk of a law-suit should anybody hurt themselves walking in with an old microwave oven (whatever). To be honest, it is the council's job to keep costs down. The real blame probably lies with the UK's increasing 'compensation-culture' and companies like InjuryLawyers4U.com.

Can find no record of any risk assesment carried out & the council has denied it has even done one.
That aside, once away from the vehicle you arrived on/in & on foot everyone using the sites are exposed to the same risks.

What happens when recycling is made compulsory & fines are issued for not recycling?

fossyant

Just dump the recycling at the entrance............

spen666

ColinJ wrote:

Since the original discussion, there has been an article in the local paper about Calderdale council's new 'Risk assesment strategy". Apparently the council has an ever-increasing insurance burden to cover the cost of claims against them. The response was to look at every aspect of council activity to try and minimise the chances of them getting sued. In this case, somebody thought that there was an obvious risk of a law-suit should anybody hurt themselves walking in with an old microwave oven (whatever). To be honest, it is the council's job to keep costs down. The real blame probably lies with the UK's increasing 'compensation-culture' and companies like InjuryLawyers4U.com.

Don't blame Injuries lawyers for you etc- they don't act negligently causing loss and damage. They act on the instructions of persons so injured




I wonder if the council want to reduce their insurance burden, whether they have thought that if their specially trained staff came to people's homes & collected all their rubbish from there- say every week on a set date whether that would mean no one else needed to attend these "dangerous" recycling plants and hence a reduced insurance burden

Classic33

It appears Iv'e upset the council. Got home last night to find a letter waiting for me. In it, the letter, I'm told my options remain the same.
On following that up today, I was told that the site are unsafe, but only to those who don't work there.

fossyant
One other option given in the phonecall today was to do just that. This despite the signs on the gates that say that you can't & the cameras that are on the sites to prevent people doing this.
Odd in a way. Ignore the rules & I'll be okay.

Classic33

Ban still in place, despite a new company taking over the site & increased costs to remove oversize items & garden waste.

littledove44

There are always queues to get into our tip, so lots of people park outside and carry their junk in.

Sense prevails in some places.