Warning over bins for 1,546 residents

11:00am Thursday 22nd May 2008

MORE than 1,500 people have been issued with warnings for leaving their bins on the street in the last year.

Bolton Council has been pursuing prosecutions of people who put out bins at the wrong time since May 2007 because of a wave of arson attacks on bins by youths.

During that period, 1,546 people have been issued with notices warning that they may receive fines if they do not keep their bins on their property at the correct time.

In that time, 17 people have been given fixed penalty notices resulting in a £75 penalty, and four people have been prosecuted.

A council spokesman said that April 2007 was the worst month for bin fires, with 252 recorded across Bolton, each at an estimated cost of £1,900 to the fire service.

To help reduce this, council rules state that bins should be put on the street before 7.30am on the day of collection, but not on the day before.

Young mum, Zoe Watmough, aged 22, of Essex Street, Horwich, was ordered pay £265 by Bolton Magistrates on Tuesday after a council officer spotted her bin on the street the day before it was due to be collected in January this year.

She had been warned about leaving bins out two months earlier and was prosecuted after failing to pay the fine within 14 days.

A council spokesman said: "Prosecution is always a last resort.

"Several residents in the area including Miss Watmough received a warning notice in November following complaints.

"We stress that it was following further complaints that enforcement officers then visited the property on January 23 to find the grey, green and burgundy bins belonging to Miss Watmough on the public highway."