A WHEELCHAIR-bound former transport boss carried out his own bin round — after refuse collectors failed to pick up his rubbish for more than a month.

Arthur Drinnan put his own bins into a specially-adapted van — with help from friends — then drove his overflowing rubbish directly to Bolton Council waste chiefs.

The 61-year-old was met at the Wellington Street depot by waste manager Mark Hoban who apologised to a frustrated Mr Drinnan and then made sure his bins were emptied there and then.

Mr Drinnan, from Breightmet, said: “I was disgusted with the situation. After six weeks my bins were overflowing — I’m on assisted collections, but one week I managed to drag them to the front of my house and they still didn’t collect them, it was ridiculous.”

The council said binmen missed two recycling collections last month — meaning Mr Drinnan's recycling bins were not emptied for six weeks.

A spokesman apologised for the inconvenience to Mr Drinnan and said the council was at fault for the missed collections.

Mr Drinnan was given a letter by Mr Hoban explaining that the mistake would not be repeated.

He said he was grateful for the apology but had been left frustrated by the whole incident.

He added: “I was pleased that he emptied the bins himself and also apologised, but I wasn’t really given an explanation as to why I had been missed several times.

“My bins were overflowing and it came down to me, a wheelchair user, to take them down there myself and that isn’t right.”

Mr Drinnan, who previously ran Bolton firm Travel 2, is wheelchair-bound after being crushed by a coach seven years ago.

The accident occurred while Mr Drinnan was working on a 53-seater coach and a jack he had used to raise it gave way.

He was trapped and dragged along the road, suffering extensive injuries to his chest and legs and led to him needing a wheelchair to move around.

Bin bosses said earlier this year that there were no plans to introduce three-week collections in Bolton — after a similar policy was introduced in neighbouring Bury.

Thousands of bins were not emptied in Bolton during the public sector strike in July 2014.

In May this year, residents were encouraged to swap their large grey bin for a smaller one in a bid to boost recycling.

Recycling rates in Bolton rose by seven per cent in seven months last year following the switch to fortnightly black bin collections.

The percentage of household waste sent for recycling or composting rose from 31 to 38 per cent.

Before the changes, Bolton’s recycling rates were in the bottom 15 per cent of the country.

A council spokesman said: “We have apologised to the resident concerned after we missed two recycling collections and we have assured him that this won’t happen again. This was a misunderstanding on our part and we’re sorry for any inconvenience caused.”