Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Health & Safety gone mad.

Hilperton residents who put their black boxes out for collection on Monday can bring them in again.

Following a number of complaints about non-collection, I phoned Hills yesterday.

Apparently no black boxes were collected as the crews felt it was 'Too dangerous and a Health & Safety risk'. Whilst this was true for side roads I asked why no boxes were collected from the B3105 - bearing in mind that this is a WC gritting route and buses were happy to use it. The answer was that it was at the discretion of each crew as to whether it was safe to work or not. So, buses ran, Great Bear articulated lorries ran, people walked along the pavements without slipping but Hills couldn't reach the far flung village of Hilperton.

To rub salt into the wound (!) they will not be playing catch-up and so we can all bring our black boxes back indoors until the next scheduled collection day.

Extra recycling can be placed next to the box in clear, open plastic bags.

Merry Christmas, Hills!!