Re: My local council

No criticism intended, but don´t the delivery people from wherever you purchase goods, such as washing machines, fridges, etc, take away the old one for you? Whenever we purchase such goods here we are always asked if we want the old one taking away.

Re: My local council

You could be right.

Sack a couple of senior managers and pay for more productive staff.

Re: My local council

[QUOTE=JBR;1157352]Predictable response, I suppose.

Whatever you might think, it IS the council's job. They are responsible for maintaining a clean environment, including street sweeping and waste disposal. It is part of what we pay our council taxes for.

You may be blissfully unaware of it, or more than likely you didn't read my post carefully enough, but the council DOES charge for removing bulky items and I DID attempt to pay for it being removed.

My beef is that they were too incompetent to deal with my (repeated) request.

I'd like to politely suggest that you get your facts right before criticising me.[/QUOTE]

Re: My local council

I wanted to get rid of a cooker, washing machine and refrigerator. I contacted my local council who advised that they could collect all 3 for £18 at 1300 the following day. I arranged payment and the collectors duly arrived the next day to remove the specified items.

Re: My local council

Yes indeed.

When we ordered the new washing machine from John Lewis, we added charges for installation (£25) and disposal (£15).

When the item was delivered, the two gentlemen took one look at the old washing machine and declared that they couldn't disconnect it and connect up the new one, and gave a few 'reasons' why it wasn't possible - rules and regulations, you know! Then they took their hooks.

We thought about getting in a plumber to do the job, but I thought 'damn it, I'll have a go myself'. Which I did with a little help from my wife who, unlike most women, is willing to get her hands dirty.

Cut a long story short, we did what the two wimpy delivery men couldn't. Needless to say, we reclaimed the payments and, at the same time, expressed our dismay at the attitude of their delivery men.

Re: My local council

That's what should have happened to us, of course.

Three items for £18 is pretty good, actually. Stockport council charges a lot more, and just under £20 for ONE item.

Re: My local council

These are the charges my local council charge for removal of bulky items. The lower price is for pensioners, registered blind or disabled..


This is a non-refundable service.

Collection of 1 item - £35.00 (£17.00)
Collection of 2 items - £35.00 (£20.00)
Collection of 3 items - £35.00 (£23.00)
Collection of 4 items - £45.00 (£26.00)
Collection of 5 items - £45.00 (£31.00)

Re: My local council

I've just checked with my local council and, although there has been an increase, the cost of a bulky waste collection is:

• £19.50 for up to three items
• £6.50 per additional items

So still reasonable.

Re: My local council

I thought I should check our (Stockport) council's charges:

Bulky A £18.82 for 1 item £9.41
Bulky B £37.50 for 2 items £18.75
Bulky C £56.72 for 3 to 8 items £28.36
Garden and building collection £109.78 per hour No discount

The lower prices are for people on various benefits (not pensioners, though!).

I'd say the logical strategy is to wait until we have EIGHT bulky items!

BTW, apparently they can't take items longer than 6 feet. One of our sofas is longer than 6ft, so when the time comes I suppose I'll have to saw it in half!

Re: My local council

There is another option of course, one that my neighbours three doors up have adopted - Dump it all in your garden.