'Thieves' stealing wheelie bins from back gardens turn out to be COUNCIL snoops searching for illegal dustbins

But when the thieves were unmasked, their identities proved to be something a shock.

The two men responsible were council officers assigned to secretly snoop in back gardens.

They were employed to find out which residents were using extra 'unauthorised' wheelie bins to dispose of their rubbish – and took those bins away if they considered them to be unlawful.

Double trouble: Wardens have been sniffing out extra bins and removing them

The warden, working for Blackburn with Darwen Council in Lancashire, even used ladders to peer over garden walls on to lawns and back yards while the occupants were out.

If they saw any homes with two bins for non-recyclable waste they took one away without informing the resident.

Last night the council was forced to apologise to householders for their sinister approach.

Hazel Wilson, 67, of Blackburn, challenged two men when she spotted them in a back alley near her home.

'One was carrying a ladder and putting it up against back yard walls one by one and the other man was taking notes,' she said.

'I asked them what they were doing and they said some people had more than one black bin and where houses had more than one they were removing it.

'They had a lorry parked nearby. I thought what if an old lady was doing the washing-up and this man peered over the fence. It would give you an awful shock.

'If I was in my garden trying to catch some sun and some peeping Tom popped his head over the hedge I would call the police.'

Bin campaigner Doretta Cocks, who founded the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collections, said: 'It's just not on and I would call 999 if it happened to me.

'You have to wonder how much time and money is going into this. It's small wonder our council tax is going up every year.' 

Blackburn with Darwen Council says action is needed because householders who put out too much waste cost council taxpayers £17,000 a year.

It insists its policy of one rubbish bin per household will cut landfill costs and boost recycling.

Councillor Alan Cottam, of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition-led council, said: 'The council has recently been carrying out checks to see how many unauthorised bins are in the borough.

On this occasion, the officers were over-zealous and the council apologies for the upset caused.'

The move is the latest draconian rubbish collection measure.

Earlier this year the Daily Mail revealed that Tory-run Plymouth Council wants families to name somebody to be in charge of their rubbish.

That individual would then face £100 fines and a criminal record if rubbish goes in the wrong wheelie bins, or the bins are put out too soon or in the wrong place.