The bargain bin council refuses to empty
The £60 his local council was charging for a replacement wheelie bin seemed a bit steep to Andrew Fowler --especially when he discovered he could get one from Germany for £27, including delivery.
British firms would undercut the local authority by £8.
Mr Fowler raised the issue with South Cambridgeshire District Council - to be told it would only empty its own bins which have its name on them.
Bin there: Andrew Fowler with the cheap European Wheelie Bin that South Cambridgeshire District Council is refusing to collect them.
'This is profiteering by the council,' Mr Fowler, 45, a radio station director from the village of Shepreth said yesterday.
'The German bins are identical except the lids slope slightly. They are made to the European standard, have a lid and wheels and can be lifted up on a machine and emptied.'
Residents in the council's area pay £60 for a green recycling bin, a black bin for household waste and two containers for metals and glass. But a further £60 delivery charge is made if a replacement is required.
Mr Fowler has reported the council to the EU Commission for blocking trade.
A spokesman for the council --which took £46,000 from homeowners last year for supplying bins - confirmed its policy and said residents could not avoid the delivery charge by collecting the bins from its depot because of 'health and safety' risks.
