WHEELIE WHEELIE CRAFTY

26-06-2007

It’s the hot topic of the day. Well, it is in Wednesbury where Lynn Hawthorne lives. What are we talking about? Wheelie bins, of course, which it now turns out are an accessory to crime.

I may have appeared to be obsessed recently with one particular topic: wheelie bins. I assure you that I am not, but there seems to have been a lot of activity around the subject that needs airing. However, I am aiming (note I said ‘aiming’!) to make this my final word…..

As a Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator, I get e-mails from the Police telling me what’s going on in my area and what to look out for. I had a Victor Meldrew moment recently when I received the following message:

There has been a recent rise in the theft of both green and grey wheelie bins on the OCU. The bins are being used as a mode of transport for stolen goods.

Residents are asked to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity or behaviour around wheelie bins to the police.

We would also ask that you mark your bin with your postcode and house number as this will identify the bins as yours and make it harder for a thief to claim ownership.

Wheelie bins can also be used as a climbing aid to access low rooves and open windows. It is good practice to ensure your bin is kept out of sight behind a gate or fence and preferably chained away from your property to stop its use in this way.

It beggars belief! OK, the ‘climbing aid’ bit I understand and I would imagine that they’re a Godsend if you’ve locked yourself out or you’re a teenager trying to sneak in after family curfew.

But transport for stolen goods?! So your average local Bonnie and Clyde think that they won’t look at all suspicious carting a wheelie bin around the streets for no apparent reason? Are they really that daft?

And all this about marking your bin with your postcode and house number? I have a few problems with that. Armed with that information, tonnes of your personal details can be accessed on computer and lay you open to fraud and identity theft.

Would binmen really bother to return your bin? I’m lucky if my bin - a bin - even makes it back into my front garden. Surely bright green bins being left on the pavement all day because bin crews can’t be bothered to return them is indicator enough that your property is empty without putting your address on it as well!

And if your bin is found laden with evidence, how do you prove that you didn’t nick the stuff?

Furthermore, nobody has answered my question about public liability. If you mark your bin and claim ownership of it, are you leaving yourself wide open for liability claims if your bin causes accident or injury?

Then we’re being asked to chain up the bins away from the house. I’ve already bought up the subject of weight and manoeuvrability of these blasted things, without dragging them even further up the garden and having to struggle with a padlock (I can never get the dratted things open!) and do bad impressions of Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol.

I know the Police are being helpful and community spirited and I applaud them for that. In my area, we are currently luxuriating under the committed care of some excellent PCSO’s and I would hate them to think I’m knocking the service, which I’m not.

No, it’s back to the Councils, who haven’t thought out this whole issue of bins, their size, their awkwardness, the amount of space they take up, the amount of time they take up in our busy lives.