Threats to ring council over bins

WhoWhatWhere

My neighbour is forever threatening to report me to the council for, and I qoute "leaving your bins outside my wall", now where I live is behind a hairdressers with the only place for my bins is on the pavment outside, which just so happens to be the front of her house. I bring them in as early as possible, but I am gone to work before 8am so I can't always bring them in until evening time. She has rang my bin company today to threaten the same. I just want to ask does she actually have a case here? Like the path is public domain, and the bin is never touching her wall, it just so happens to be in front of it.. it doesn't obscrut her walking or anything. I don't want this to go to the council because if they take her side (she's elderly) I am screwed. I live in Enniscorthy, its tiny and the street I live on is small enough. If anyone can advise should I be worried at all or just tell her to get a grip.

nuac

Mod
Sorry, but boards.ie cannot get involved in such issues as placing of bins.
Suggest you invite your neighbour to have a cup of tea or whatever in your own place or in a nearby neutral venue.
A chat never hurts in such situations
Hallowe'en can be a difficult time for the elderly. The trick or treat custom imported from the States in recent decades can upset the elderly. I am sure she would welcome any cooperation to control it

L1011

nuac wrote: »

he trick or treat custom imported from the States in recent decades

<wildly off topic>
The "trick" bit may be, but my 65 year old mother was doing the "treat" side in her childhood in Dublin. "Help the halloween party" was the request, I think.

cruizer101

Part of me would just be saying ignore her but there would be no harm in contacting the council to get confirmation. Do you no have any road fronting at all or is it just a doorway.

nuac

L1011 wrote: »

<wildly off topic>
The "trick" bit may be, but my 65 year old mother was doing the "treat" side in her childhood in Dublin. "Help the halloween party" was the request, I think.

Ok, probably deserves another thread somewhere

btw congrats on your elevation to the lofty heights of moderatorship

coylemj

Leaving your empty bins on the public street all day until you come home from work and take them in is a feature of modern life. The council will write that neighbour off as a crank, she doesn't own the public footpath and if it's not blocked then the council will and can do nothing about it. Neither will the bin company.

WhoWhatWhere

cruizer101 wrote: »

Part of me would just be saying ignore her but there would be no harm in contacting the council to get confirmation. Do you no have any road fronting at all or is it just a doorway.

Nope! Once I leave the through the door I'm onto the street. The prior walkway is from my yard to there.

WhoWhatWhere

nuac wrote: »

Mod
Sorry, but boards.ie cannot get involved in such issues
Suggest you invite your neighbour to have a cup of tea or whatever in your own place or in a nearby neutral venue.
A chat never hurts in such situations
Hallowe'en can be a difficult time for the elderly. The trick or treat custom imported from the States in recent decades can upset the elderly. I am sure she would welcome any cooperation to control it

That's fair... but what about the prior months she's moaned about it?

silent_spark

What's the link between the bins and Halloween? Has your neighbour suggested where the bin should go instead?

Uriel.

The mod note itself is confusing. It's in bold so I guess it's an instruction, but to what end? Is the OP's question still open to discuss?

I'm also not sure of the immediate relevance of Halloween, particularly given that this "dispute" has been ongoing for a while.

OP, as the mod suggested, I think rational discussion, where possible, with your neighbour is the overall best approach with a view to ironing out the issue amicably in the long term. It sounds like you may been down this road already though and hit a dead end?

Does she have a specific reason for not wanting your bins on the road? Can you place them further away from her house?

The bottom line is that she doesn't have ownership of the public thoroughfare and she can't stop you placing your bins there. It is a normal practice across every town and village in modern Ireland. The council can't side with her, so to speak, they can't prevent you from putting your bins out. Providing you're not doing anything unsafe when placing them out to be collected, nobody has any recourse.

In all likelihood, the council itself will dismiss her complaint or at least not follow up on same with any seriousness. The danger might be that she embellishes and starts saying your bin is going out over full and spreading rubbish around or something like that.

Personally I wouldn't bother calling the council. Let them contact you id they want, they may not anyway. All you can do really is try have a rational conversation with the neighbour, if that's not working just ignore

nuac

My point about Hallow E'en is there can much knocking on doors - some by small children, some by youths looking for rather more than a bag of sweets.

Many elderly people fear these calls.

For a good reason I usually warn the latter callers not to call to a particular neighbour, and see them off the estate to ensure my advice is accepted.

I am suggesting that each small area should have its own micro-neighbourhood watch and watch our for each other. This can be useful at Hallowe'en.

So I suggest it would be better to try to talk to that neighbour than phoning the local council

WhoWhatWhere

I spent almost 30 minutes talking with her, with her only response being, "don't care put them somewhere else this is my wall"... but as long as she has no recourse I'm not too worried.

Dial Hard

nuac wrote:

My point about Hallow E'en is there can much knocking on doors - some by small children, some by youths looking for rather more than a bag of sweets.

I still don't understand what this has to do with the OP's issue?

brian_t

Dial Hard wrote: »

I still don't understand what this has to do with the OP's issue?

If the OP lets his neighbour know that he has her back then she might respond by being a more agreeable neighbour.

WhoWhatWhere

She doesn't live on her own... her daughter is her carer. She's also been phoning the bin company.

Dr Turk Turkelton

nuac wrote: »

My point about Hallow E'en is there can much knocking on doors - some by small children, some by youths looking for rather more than a bag of sweets.

Many elderly people fear these calls.

For a good reason I usually warn the latter callers not to call to a particular neighbour, and see them off the estate to ensure my advice is accepted.

I am suggesting that each small area should have its own micro-neighbourhood watch and watch our for each other. This can be useful at Hallowe'en.

So I suggest it would be better to try to talk to that neighbour than phoning the local council

Are you reading another thread about Halloween and replying in this one by accident?

Reply from nuac
============
No. See earlier posts

NUTLEY BOY

The complainant seems to be most unreasonable in her attitude and to be misdirecting herself in terms of her perceived rights.

It is the national norm for refuse bins to be placed on the public footpath since Pontious was a pilot. This is how it was before wheelie bins ever appeared. My point is that OP's practice is an established convention.

If you look at directions from your wheelie bin operator you will probably find instructions on where, how and when you place your bin on the public footpath. We are supposed to place ours on the kerb with the handles pointing in to the road. If the operator is one to whom the local authority contracted out the service I presume that there is no problem in following the operator's directions.

BTW I had reason to look at the Ts & Cs recently as in some places you risk being pinged for putting out a bin too early the previous day ! This is rarely a problem for the domestic customer but might be for commercial waste.

I would suggest to OP to ask the local authority to confirm that they are in compliance in what they are doing with their bin - I expect that they are but confirmation gives you authority in an argument with the neighbour.

When you have the confirmation you need I would confront the neighbour in the presence of her carer and politely tell her to give it a rest. Thereafter she can ring Joe Duffy or anyone else she likes to no effect.

Finally I would attach a bit of decorous art work to my bin to make sure it is readily identifiable as yours and that it is the one that you take in. Not unknown for the malevolent mind to swap people's bins around;)

GavMan

Speak with the Carer. Ask her if there can be some compromise

coylemj

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

If you look at directions from your wheelie bin operator you will probably find instructions on where, how and when you place your bin on the public footpath. We are supposed to place ours on the kerb with the handles pointing in to the road. If the operator is one to whom the local authority contracted out the service I presume that there is no problem in following the operator's directions.

I doubt if the neighbour cares if the handles are facing in or out and besides, where the bin is located for most of the day the OP is at work and the neighbour is inspecting her footpath is down to where the binman parks it which is outside the OP's control.

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

BTW I had reason to look at the Ts & Cs recently as in some places you risk being pinged for putting out a bin too early the previous day ! This is rarely a problem for the domestic customer but might be for commercial waste.

Correct, it is not an issue with domestic customers, in fact the Greenstar timetable for the DLR co. co. area states the following:

Please ensure to put your bins out the night before your scheduled collection as collection times may vary.

This morning their truck arrived in my estate at 6:34 a.m. so we have no choice but to leave the bins out the night before.

WhoWhatWhere

GavMan wrote: »

Speak with the Carer. Ask her if there can be some compromise

There really can't be though! It's a one way street for traffic so that may give you an idea of how small it is. It's just not possible to put it anywhere else. She's said before "go put it around the corner on the main street!" ?????

irish_goat

I don't know about the south but up here leaving your bin out all week is deemed an offence by Roads Service so they could tell you off if you leave it there all the time but they certainly won't tell you to leave it somewhere else on collection day. Bin company won't care, they're not going to antagonise you (a paying customer) and no one in council will care either. Your neighbour will just have to (and will) get over it.

GerardKeating

irish_goat wrote: »

I don't know about the south but up here leaving your bin out all week is deemed an offence by Roads Service so they could tell you off if you leave it there all the time but they certainly won't tell you to leave it somewhere else on collection day. Bin company won't care, they're not going to antagonise you (a paying customer) and no one in council will care either. Your neighbour will just have to (and will) get over it.

OP said all day, not all week.

Leaving the bin out the evening before Collection Day, and taking it back the next night is fairly common these days.

WhoWhatWhere

It's not left all week 24/7, if I were to then I'd accept the annoyance. Seems like a bitter oul wan with nothing more than giving out to do.

Graham

Does your local CoCo have a "Presentation and Collection of Household Waste and Commercial Waste" Bye-Law? Might be worth asking and having a read.

Most include something along these lines for the 'presentation of waste':

"prescribed place" in relation to any premises means a convenient place immediately outside the entrance to a premises or as close as practicable but not in a position to cause an obstruction to users of the roadway, footpath or footway.

WhoWhatWhere

Graham wrote: »

Does your local CoCo have a "Presentation and Collection of Household Waste and Commercial Waste" Bye-Law? Might be worth asking and having a read.

Most include something along these lines for the 'presentation of waste':

"prescribed place" in relation to any premises means a convenient place immediately outside the entrance to a premises or as close as practicable but not in a position to cause an obstruction to users of the roadway, footpath or footway.

Causes no obstruction to passers by

Mrs OBumble

OP, I'd print out the council's phone number and drop it around to her. Tell her that you think she really should call the council sooner rather than later. And wish her a good morning/evening with a bright, cheerful but polite smile.

WhoWhatWhere

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

OP, I'd print out the council's phone number and drop it around to her. Tell her that you think she really should call the council sooner rather than later. And wish her a good morning/evening with a bright, cheerful but polite smile.

Can we be best friends because that's so perfect I think I'll print and frame it.