Bin woes on Birmingham's borders as strike goes on

Maggie Boylan and Andreas Gabriel work at Bakers Lane Fish Bar near the Birmingham-Black Country border

Residents and businesses on Birmingham's borders have spoken of their frustration as the city's bin strike continues.

Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on Monday over the industrial action, which has been ongoing since January.

Neighbouring councils are collecting rubbish as normal, while Birmingham residents are seeing waste piles getting bigger and rat sightings keep increasing

Over the border though, Conservative MP Wendy Morton fears her constituency may become affected, adding: "We don't want the 'squeaky blinders' in Aldridge-Brownhills, what we do want is the minister to get this sorted out and get the bins emptied for those residents. It's quite simple."

For residents and businesses on the border in Streetly, it is a frustrating time as Walsall Council's jurisdiction, just metres away, is seeing bins collected as normal.

Andreas Gabriel, owner of Bakers Lane Fish Bar, said his business' bin had been collected once in the last three weeks.

"They let me down for two weeks, it has been very bad. I wish I was in Walsall," he said.

Maggie Boylan, who works at the fish and chip shop and lives in Birmingham, explained: "It's frustrating because you think they're going to come and then they don't.

"I'm accumulating rubbish and I've started to put it out of the back door. There are foxes out at night looking for food. It's a nightmare."

Business owner and resident Steve Curtis has had his black bin collected

Steve Curtis, owner of Walsall-based Quote Me Hire, lives within the Birmingham boundary.

He said the bins on his side of the street were collected but the other side were not, while the bins at his business over the border have been collected as normal.

"People are trying to go to the tip but the queues are backing up," he said.

"To see the wheelie bins being emptied on one side of the road is definitely a frustration for people under Birmingham City Council."

Another Birmingham resident, who did not wish to be named, added: "It's just this week it hasn't been picked up so we've been quite lucky - but now they've stopped coming.

"We're paying for it so they should be emptied. I've paid a lot of money for the garden bin and it hasn't been emptied.

"It's not good when one area gets it emptied and another doesn't."

'Crows on the bins'

Callowbrook Lane in Rubery lies across the border between the city and Bromsgrove, Worcestershire - one half is managed by Birmingham City Council while the other is covered by Bromsgrove District Council.

Claire Perkins, who lives on the Birmingham side, told BBC Hereford and Worcester it was "horrible" seeing her bins go uncollected.

"You come out in the morning and the bins are so full. The crows sit on top of the bins because there are no lids and they throw rubbish everywhere," she said.

"When it's not been emptied it just becomes a real, real mess and now we're getting rat problems."

Claire Perkins said her part of Rubery was becoming a "real, real mess"

Nicky Thethy, also on the Birmingham side, said it was "not ideal" seeing people just down the road getting their rubbish collected while his was not.

"It's a bit of a nightmare and it's not very nice that you have to see every morning, you see the rats and the cats in the bin bags. It's just horrible," he said.

Meanwhile Angela Neale, whose bins are collected by Bromsgrove District Council, said it was a "sad situation" for some of her neighbours.

"I fully support the bin workers and if it was happening on this side, I'd still support them," she said.

"I know it's not ideal for people with the build-up of the rubbish."

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