Queues as rubbish tip cuts hours

Motorists dumping rubbish at a Wolverhampton tip were stuck in long queues to drop off their waste — after opening hours were cut to save cash.

Tips at Shaw Road, in Bushbury, and Anchor Lane, in Coseley, now open two hours later than before.

They also close for two days a week as part of cost-cutting measures.

And as the Bushbury site opened its doors at 10am on Saturday, a queue of around 20 cars snaked from the site waiting to get in. Among those queuing to get in was Lee Harris, who wanted to drop off a hi-fi and some old toys.

He said: "It is ridiculous, it is almost summer and it should be opening early, people have got shopping and other things to do."

Earlier this month a carpet, paint trays, fencing and other waste was found close to the entrance of the Coseley site which had to be cleaned up by the council.

The move to shut both sites for two days along with the reduction in opening hours was made in a bid to save £100,000 over two years as part of £27m of savings at Wolverhampton City Council.

The matter is now part of a political row between Labour and the ruling Tories and Lib Dems.

Wolverhampton City Council spokesman Gurdip Thandi said: "To date we have not received any complaints from residents about any problems at the household waste recycling centre in Shaw Road on Saturday.

"With the recent good weather it is possible that people would have been working in their gardens resulting in more people wishing to use the centre over the weekend.

"But the opening times of the centres was reduced because of the increasing success our kerbside recycling scheme.

"Residents now have more waste for recycling from homes than ever before," he added.

"Before the new opening times were introduced more than three weeks ago we carried out surveys of both the sites and found there was very little use before 10am.

"Since the new opening hours were implemented we have received five complaints."