A BRAMHOPE resident was so hopping mad that his rubbish was not been collected - he took to leaping into his wheelie bin to squash it.

Clive Fox, vice chairman of Bramhope Parish Council, said at last week's meeting: "As a pretty hefty fellow I have started to jump into my bin to make room for more rubbish."

Mr Fox, of Breary Lane East, said after the meeting that he would continue with the drastic action but warned other residents not to follow his lead.

He said: "I have had the weekly exercise of leaping into my wheelie bin. I got my step ladder out and jumped into the bin to squash down what is already in it and get a bit more room. This is not something you should try at home as they say - this is only for skilled acrobats. You could get stuck."

The councillor said that a change in collection cycles are to blame for the build up of recyclable rubbish, stored in green wheelie bins.

Leeds City Council had emptied the bins for recyclable rubbish, such as newspapers, plastic and tins, on a four-week cycle until the end of last year, and the dates for collection were displayed on a sticker on the bins.

Mr Fox said: "When we got to the last but one date for the year, we were then given a fresh sticker for the next year and it denoted the last collection of the first one. They failed to come on December 30 and now we have had to wait until January 28. The bins are crammed because they failed to stick to their time table. They have now started a five week cycle."

Mr Fox was also concerned that a change in cycles for ordinary rubbish wheelie bins was not adequately published and that bins were left on the streets at Christmas.

He said: "The ordinary bins are emptied every week. My complaint is that we did not know that they were not going to be collected on the Friday before Christmas. The consequences of that were that people left them out in the street."

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: "There are inevitably changes to refuse collection services over the

holiday period and arrangements were put in place to minimise disruption to householders. These arrangements, including details of all the alternative collection dates were given extensive publicity.

"The information was circulated to every local newspaper, including the Wharfedale Observer, and the arrangements were outlined in leaflets and posters circulated throughout the area. Opening dates for recycling centres were also listed for those people wishing to dispose of any extra rubbish over the holiday period."

The bins were eventually emptied in two trips on Friday and Saturday.

Warning for

dog owners

EXTRA notices warning dog-owners not to allow their pets to foul the pavement are to be pinned up in a Bramhope street - after complaints from residents.

Hall Rise has become a

popular haunt for man's best friend to go to the toilet but residents say they are tired of persistent fouling.

Janet Sunderland, clerk to Bramhope Parish Council, who is to put up the new signs said: "The best thing is for owners to take a plastic bag and dispose of it at home or let them do it on their own grounds."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.