Queues at tips after rubbish services hit

Tips in the Black Country have been hit by queues after the weather hit bin collections in the run-up to Christmas.

This month's heavy snow hit waste services across the region, leading to overflowing bins and missed collections.

Walsall was one of the hardest hit areas and residents got caught in queues yesterday as they brought their rubbish to the borough's two main dumps in Fryers Road, Bloxwich, and Merchants Way, Aldridge.Bin collections in Walsall were suspended last Thursday.

Ice and snow made it dangerous for lorries to head out.

The day before, crews were recalled after completing just a fifth of their rounds.

There were queues of about 20 cars at the Bloxwich tip yesterday.

Among those in line was mother-of-two Susan Griffiths, aged 39, of Lawrence Street, Willenhall, who had seven rubbish bags.

She said: "I've got 15 more at home. We've not had our bins collected in about two weeks. It's terrible."

Queen Mary's High School caretaker and father-of-two Darren Turner, 31, of Gurney Road, Walsall, was stuck in the queue for about 20 minutes.

He said: "I've got six bags at rubbish but there's more at home.

"We were supposed to have our bins collected last Thursday but they didn't come. They've not been collected for four weeks. I think it's a joke."

Assembly packer Ann Westley, 50, of Magness Crescent, Willenhall, who had five rubbish bags to unload, added: "They missed us last week.

"They are usually very good at collecting the bins. It's very rare they let us down."

In other areas people have been queueing just to get rid of excess Christmas rubbish.

Queues started to form outside Stourbridge's tip as soon as the gates were first opened at around 8am yesterday.

By noon vehicles were being directed around a nearby car park to ensure queues did not tail back along Birmingham Street and disrupt traffic on Stourbridge ring road.

The waiting time to get onto the site was around 30 minutes.