Wheelie strange thefts as bins go missing

4:37pm Sunday 13th January 2008

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DETECTIVES have been left scratching their heads after a spate of wheelie bin thefts.

More than a dozen bins have been stolen from outside homes in Mellor and Read over Christmas and New Year.

Police are investigating whether it could be part of a chain reaction in which one person has their bin snatched and then steals a neighbour's.

But they are not ruling out that organised thieves are stealing them for another purpose. Officers are urging residents to personalise their bins.

Sgt Rob Evans, of Clitheroe police, said they were among the stranger thefts he had investigated.

He said: "It might be a knock-on effect of someone losing their bin but we can't be sure. The problem is that people think it costs £80 to have their bin replaced if it goes missing. They then turn to taking another off their street or from their village.

"We are advising people to make them identifiable by either putting their names on them or even putting paint on them. Anything that makes it clear who they belong to."

Some bins have been chipped' for recycling identification.

A Ribble Valley Council spokesman said: "If a bin does go missing the householder can ring us and we will replace it free of charge."

Read was one of the first places to be piloted with the three-stream waste recycling system now available in Ribble Valley.

The scheme was rolled out in Mellor last October and homes receive three bins so they can split their household waste and their items for recycling.