'Stop charging!' - Taxpayers blame Burslem tip queues on £40 brown bin charge

Taxpayers are calling on a council to stop charging £40-a-year to collect garden waste - after massive tip queues this weekend. Pictures have shown tailbacks of traffic queuing to reach Burslem tip, on Federation Road, over the weekend - and similar issues have been reported at Hanford tip.

It comes as Stoke-on-Trent City Council started charging £40-a-year to collect garden waste from April 1.

Sharon Smith said: "It doesn't help that the council is now charging for garden waste collections. People want rid of their garden waste just like they always did."

Sue Ikin said: "The council wonders why there is so much fly-tipping . The tips are closed for days and then there are the charges for bin collections. No wonder there is so much dumped in beauty spots. Get a grip, keep the depots open, and stop charging and then may be it wouldn't be necessary to spend extra money on clearing dumped rubbish. It's not rocket science."

Bethan Tinsley said: "The sun has been out, everyone is cutting grass and gardening and do not want to pay £40-a-year for their brown bin to be emptied."

Garry Foster added: "I've seen shorter queues for Blackpool illuminations."

Sid Clarke believes the queues would be shorter if staff stopped demanding to know where every motorists lives. Sid lives in Bradwell, was last week stopped from depositing his rubbish at Burslem tip, and sent to the Newcastle Borough Council-run tip at Lycett instead.

He said: "What a joke this place is. I live less than a mile away in Bradwell. Last week I visited to be greeted by one of the refuse police who was asking for your postcode. I was informed that because I didn't live in Stoke-on-Trent I couldn't dump my stuff there and if I had given a false location the cameras would have my number plate and I would be prosecuted for fly-tipping. So I would have to travel to Lycett tip which is probably a 10-mile round trip and not very green. I understand that I am not a Stoke-on-Trent resident but you would think that Newcastle and Stoke-on-Trent would work together as it probably goes in the same hole at the end. So the traffic jam was probably caused by the refuse police just doing their job."

Other parts of the country operate a booking system which has helped to reduce queues.

Adrian Harris said: "Move to a system of appointments. Here in Birmingham they have this system and the queues no longer exist."

Linda Cass added: "One of the few things I like about my council tip is you have to book an hour time slot so the most you are waiting for is 10 minutes."

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