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The good, the bad and the ugly...

Started by: JR (524)

During this time of crisis and uncertainty due to the present pandemic, we have heard of many goodwill gestures, kindness and positive attitudes in Wigan. This is wonderful and paints Wigan in a very good light, and I thank these people; they are a credit to the town. However, this is a personal story that has caused me considerable distress during these times. We have a minority in our town that have no scruples. During the early stages of lockdown I’m sure that you heard about the initial fly tipping problem; this story might infuriate you as much as it has enraged me.
Shortly before lockdown my mother who lives on a council estate, had been mentioning rubbish appearing in her back garden. So I took a look and there was indeed quite a few bin bags, bottles, cans, a bike frame, even an old tumble dryer. Before I could take action, lockdown began and I was one of the unfortunate people who was considered extremely vulnerable, so have had to completely shield for 3 months. In the meantime I told her to hang on a while as it was likely that the Council wouldn’t be allowing anyone out to inspect.
Now, my mother is in her late 80s, lives, alone, is disabled, has Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. She recently rang me to say that there was more rubbish tipped in her garden, so I got in touch with a local Councillor who very kindly looked into this for me. I then had a telephone call from the Council who were very helpful and promised to send one of their contractors to inspect the rubbish with a view to arranging removal. Today the contractor rang me to say he had been given the go ahead from the Council to arrange removal. I asked how much was there and was shocked by his reply. He told me it would take 2 days to remove as there is a ‘mountain’ of bin bags with food inside, plus heaps of beer cans, bottles, general rubbish… and even prunings from trees!
I’m disgusted at the behaviour of people who appear to have no qualms about casually dumping rubbish, but to subject an old, disabled woman with dementia to this is absolutely sickening. They should be locked up.
On top of this we need to consider the cost of a contractor taking 2 days to remove this, which will be paid by us from our council taxes. The money that has to be allocated to these types of incidents could be spent on other important issues in the Borough. I do hope they find the culprit or culprits. I know what I’d like to do to them!

Started: 8th Jul 2020 at 13:59

Posted by: Axcroft (236)

JR, yes this is infuriating, and by all accounts, it is far from an isolated incident. An indictment of the times in which we live. I hope that it is not repeated, and that the distress caused to you and your mother can soon be forgotten. Vulnerable householders are deliberately picked on by these callous, lawbreaking flytippers and it sounds like your mother's garden was being used over a number of months as part of an organised dump.  Does the rear garden back on to "waste land" or is it along a shared boundary with other neighbours?   I hope they can catch the offenders.

Replied: 8th Jul 2020 at 18:12

Posted by: JR (524)

Thanks for your kind comments. My mothers garden is bordered by 4 or 5 council houses, so either a neighbour is dumping the rubbish or allowing someone else access to dump it. I do have my suspicions and have passed the on to the Council.

Replied: 8th Jul 2020 at 19:00

Posted by: AngelWood (1056)

Let's hope they dumped something with their name and address on it. Some people have no respect.

Replied: 8th Jul 2020 at 20:22

Posted by: mortarmillbill (926)

Can you not install a hidden Cctv camera?

Replied: 8th Jul 2020 at 20:53

Posted by: JR (524)

If the culprits aren't caught I will look into cctv as I'm determined to discover who these low life are.

Replied: 9th Jul 2020 at 10:55

 

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