New mum's fury as rubbish is left piled up outside her home

10:59am Friday 26th May 2006

THE mother of a new-born baby has blasted council chiefs after claiming binmen left with her 20 bags of rubbish sitting for days outside her York home.

Emma Peacock, 27, said City of York Council had been unable to supply her with a wheelie bin after she moved on April 20 into her new home - a flat in North Moor Road, Huntington.

She said the council had told her the 20 bags of rubbish she had accumulated would be collected when the wheelie-bin lorry came round last Thursday. "But we saw it go straight past."

When she rang the council on Friday to complain, she said she was told it would be collected later that day.

When no one came, she rang up again, and was told the men had finished work for the day. Her bins were finally collected by street environment officers on Saturday and also delivered a new wheelie-bin.

She said:"I was worried about a possible health hazard. I was worried that rats might come. If it was just me and my partner, I wouldn't have been so worried, but I've got a five-week old baby, Jasmine. I think they only arrived after I got The Press involved. I am happy they have picked the bins up now and I hope that's the end of it."

Asked whether she had considered taking the bags by car down to the waste skips, she said: "I considered doing that, but don't see why I should - we pay £80 a month on our council tax. And I was worried about the effect on my baby's health of putting all that rubbish in the car."

The Press has reported how about 180 households in York were waiting for new or replacement wheelie bins, because the authority had run out of stocks.

A council spokeswoman said it had been reported to it that bin bags, which should have been collected from Emma's home, had been missed.

The authority apologised for the inconvenience.

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