I don't agree with privatisation but the its snowing everything stops attitude of WBC make a very good case for it.

At work we have a private contractor collect our rubbish and they turn up on time every week whatever the weather. In last January's bad weather they were on time with no problems whatsoever. Yet at the same time WBC were all running around like headless chickens saying no collections because of the weather.



I wonder what the Council would say if I was late or didn't bother paying my council tax.

or even if the bin lid is slightly open they wont take it on health and safety grounds..pathetic..wont be getting a happy christmas off me

WBC shambles but by all accounts most of the regional Borough Councils are as bad. Honestly, it's pathetic.



Can you imagine the risk analysis done prior to the decision?



WBC Boss "Dave, whats it like out there in't truck, pretty bad?

Bin Man (face full of pie): "o o nightmare boss, two hands on the wheel required all the way round boss, so no snacking on the move, it's just pointless. The lads are having to feed me on the move"

WBC Boss "TWO HANDS? NO SNACKING? Your Joking!? JEAN, get everybody a brew, we're in a state of emergency here. All services cancelled."

Time for the private sector to take over and a piece work style of pay.

Seriously? Am I the only person who struggled to get his car out to a main road without an issue today, and that doesn't really want some idiot driving one of those big trucks and turning it round near his house?



....and seriously, in the times when they collected your bin for you, the council had to provide twice as many trucks and each one had double the amount of people on it so surely that was costing more in taxes??



I don't remember Warrington being minus 10 degrees when I was a kid, if they want to be cautious and not kill anyone or hit any cars over Christmas then I'm fine with it!

It won`t be the choice of the crews not to collect, potentially they will lose out on a lot of xmas tips if their not out and about.

one of the posts of the year...and unfortunately, probably true

Get the lazy "so 'n' sos" off their lazy collective behinds, and do a bit, like the rest of the country have to



HEALTH N SAFETY, MY BOTTOM. How did we cope in winters gone by? Simple, people got on with it.

Have you driven an HGV of any kind or anything with air brakes ?



I`m not sure what the side roads are like round your way but round here they are sheet ice, the slightest heavy touch with brakes on an HGV when your on ice and the thing will be out of control.



What happens if a kid runs out in front of one of the bin lorries in this weather like kids do and the driver has to slam on ?



The road we live on has a slight slope from the top to the bottom, you try and stop an HGV on ice if it gets up to much momentum, if they crawled round even slower than normal then the job would never get done.



I`m sure you would be one of the first to complain if one of the bin lorries slid out of control and hit your car, it would go something like this "How can those idiots at the council let something of that size loose on sheet ice ?" Followed by "We have kids of ffor xmas now and they like to play out in the street in the snow yet the council let bin lorries loose on dangerous roads".

It would incentivise re-cycling as well (although the increase in fly-tipping may be a problem)

They've coped in decades past, in worse winters, in bin lorries with less technology/safety features, surely.

We havn`t had winters like this one for a long time, how do you know they have coped in past years when we have had snow and ice ?



Do you have access to the amount of claims that the public have put in due to accidents in the ice and snow in years gone by ? One tap from an out of control, sliding bin lorry is going to do a lot of damge to a car or even a property if its at the bottom of a slope.



It could be that the council have learnt from the past where the adverse conditions in years gone by lead to a lot of accidents involving their vehicles where their insurance companies had to pay out a lot of money hence putting up the councils premiums.



Insurance companies will have a big say in the transport industry as to whether a company wants to risk running its fleet, they may not even pay out if they get proof that the conditions wern`t safe for a vehicle of that size to be operating, their are a lot of clauses in insurance policies especially with HGV`s due to the amount of damage they can cause and the potential payouts for insurance companies. The councils public liabilty insurance will be expensive and tightly worded as well, their are a lot of factors involved before companies decide to shutdown a transport operation of any kind.

We've had plenty of winters in my lifetime just as bad/worse. FACT. Bin lorries went out then. We are now overrun with bureaucrats with clipboards, desperately trying to justify their existance.

EVERYTHING has a risk to it. We can't go through life cushioned in cotton wool.

This country just seems to down tools at the first oportunity. GET ON WITH IT

In the majority of Warrington areas, we got 3 to 4 inches of snow on Friday night, with no considerable snow fall since, and 4 days later, we still can't cope. Something's not right.