NEIGHBOURS fined for leaving their bins on a public road claim they are being treated unfairly.

Hazel Read, 26, and her husband Luke, 27, have been fined by Pendle Council for leaving their bins on a public road.

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The couple, of Henry Street, Colne, said they cannot lift the bins up the eight steep steps to the back alley, where they are collected.

Mrs Read, who sufferers from multiple sclerosis, said her plight is shared with neighbouring Atkinson Street residents who also struggle to carry their full bins up the steps.

The couple have been told they have to pay £60 or face being summonsed to court.

The former Bolton University pupil said: “I feel intimidated by the letters, it’s really, really awful.

“The bins get so heavy when they are full they are a struggle for my husband to move and he’s able bodied.

“It’s so much easier for me and the other people in the street to put their bins by their back gate than have to carry them down the wet, slippery steps.

“I was getting a letter every month and when I told them about my condition, they started sending the letters to my husband instead.

“We are not harming anybody. The bins are not in the way of anyone.

“But now with these letters threatening to take me to court I feel really stressed.”

According to the council’s guidelines, bins must be put out before 7.30am on collection day, and no earlier than 6pm the night before.

They should also be brought in after collection and its the ‘householders responsibility’ to keep them within their boundary.

Mr Read said residents tried to come up with a solution but were ignored.

He said: “We move the bins back on Sunday night so the road sweeper can clean the alley on a Monday morning.

“But the council didn’t agree to it.

“We’ve been told by the council we can’t keep them there on health and safety grounds, yet surely there’s a health and safety risk carrying a bin up those steps.”

Chris Johnson, 70, of Atkinson Street, Colne also received a fixed penalty notice for leaving out his bin.

He said: “It made me very annoyed because the bins are kept in an orderly fashion when they are in the alley.

“I suggested getting a section of the street cornered off for housing bins but they battered that idea away.

“There are a lot of people affected by this, who are elderly or poorly, who cannot lift the bins up and down.”

It is an offence, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to leave out bins and boxes after they have been emptied.

David Walker, the council’s environmental services manager, said: “We’ve been trying to work with residents to improve their area for a number of months.

“In the main residents have responded positively to our requests to remove their bins after they’ve been emptied.

“Bins left out on the streets are very unsightly and don’t create a good impression.

“They also cause obstructions which could result in accidents.

“We’ve offered assisted collections to any residents who have a confirmed mobility problem.

“And we’ve offered smaller bins or a return to sack collections for those who have awkward entrances to their properties.

“No one has taken us up on this offer.”