Dad angered by messy bin collection causing wheelchair using daughter stress

Colin Pidgeon called on Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) to clean up its act following the incident in Dundonald on September 2.

The economist said his 17-year-old daughter Rosie, who suffers from long Covid, struggled to manoeuvre her powered wheelchair out of their home and out onto the street due to the area being littered with caddies.

The Belfast Met student and former Irish Dance champion has suffered with the debilitating illness for the last year.

Speaking about the incident, Mr Pidgeon said: “My daughter is a wheelchair user, her life is hard enough without recycling guys leaving our street in such a state, this is not acceptable. The issue was the pavement is not particularly wide.

“Usually cars are parked partly up on the path. Usually this isn’t too bad, but sometimes they are up too close to the garden walls or lampposts.

“In these instances, it is not possible to get Rosie’s motorized wheelchair through the gap. However, on this morning it was worse because the recycling bins were strewn all over the place.

“A wheelchair user cannot possibly move them out of the way to get past. It causes me stress to think of her struggling on her own to get past obstructions to get to the Glider (bus) stop.

“The parking issue isn’t the problem so much as when the recycling guys throwing the stuff everywhere. I would like to see them ensure the containers are put back at the edge so people can get by safely.”

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, reacting to the concerned parent, said it would investigate the issue further with its contracted waste processors.

Responding to a media query, Bryson Recycling said:”We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to this resident.

“Our crews are instructed to return recycling containers in a way that does not obstruct pavements and driveways as we know the issues and frustration this can cause.

“We will ensure that all collection crews are reminded of the importance of returning containers properly and will monitor the situation going forward.”