Homeowner fined for dumping rubbish in town hall after council failed to empty his bin

When the dustbin men failed to collect his rubbish for a second time, Ian Margetts decided to kick up a stink.

He called the council to complain  -  but says he became stuck in an automated call handling system.

So he dragged his full wheelie bin to the town hall  -  and emptied it in the foyer. Satisfied that he had aired his grievance, the father of two went home.

But unfortunately for Mr Margetts, 45, the council didn't take his point.

His protest had been caught on CCTV. Officials at Kirklees Council, West Yorkshire, traced him by an address on an envelope in the pile of rubbish and he was taken to court. Mr Margetts, of Cleckheaton, had been prepared to argue his corner, claiming that the council had failed to honour its 'statutory duties'.

But after taking legal advice he admitted dumping waste without a licence and was given a 12-month conditional discharge by Dewsbury magistrates, and ordered to pay £475 costs.

After the hearing, Mr Margetts, an IT expert who has trained as a teacher, said: 'I feel like throwing in the towel as a citizen. I now have a criminal record so my future career as a teacher is over.

'The authorities appear impervious. The council should have used my protest as a learning exercise rather than view me as a troublesome problem.'

The house husband, who lives with his partner and his daughters, added: 'The authorities have failed me again and again.

'The first time they failed to take the rubbish because there was some garden waste in there. The next time they did it I just blew a fuse. They just could not get it right.'

But, referring to his dumping, a spokesman for Kirklees Council said: 'This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.'

Mr Margetts says that binmen failed to collect his rubbish on two occasions, several weeks apart.

Ian Margetts has been convicted of dumping rubbish at Cleckheaton Town Hall after his stunt was captured on CCTV

However, the council says that it did not receive a complaint from him on either occasion.

It explained it has a policy that garden waste should not be mixed with household rubbish, as Mr Margetts's was said to be.

If the waste is mixed, then the bin is not collected. A council spokesman added that if residents

report their bin collections being missed, officials respond within 24 hours.

When Mr Margetts took his wheelie bin to the town hall in February, bin collections were supposed to be weekly.

Ian Margetts was caught on CCTV as he dumped the entire contents of his wheelie bin in protest over the council's refuse collection

Since then, the council has switched to fortnightly collections under a rolling programme of change.

Half of England's 350 local councils have abolished weekly bin collections and replaced them with fortnightly rounds. This has led to concerns about risks to public health, particularly in summer.

Last week, it emerged that the duty of councils to collect household rubbish will be scrapped under proposed changes to the law. The obligation has been in place for more than 130 years.

But under reforms put forward by Environment Minister Phil Woolas, local authorities could set their own stringent rules for rubbish collection  -  including weight restrictions and strict recycling targets.