Great-grandmother, 93, wheels bin two miles to tip during strikes in Kent
The 93-year-old wheeled her garden waste bin two miles down the road to the tip
A great-grandmother from Kent has wheeled her garden waste bin two miles to the tip after waiting weeks for it to be collected during strikes.
Nan Miller, 93, pays £47 a year to have her green waste collected, on top of her council tax.
She took her "rather heavy bin" to the tip after getting tired of waiting for it to be taken away.
She said: "After three missed collections, and the collection is every other week, I wasn't going to wait for another one. I had to have it emptied...
"If you had things piling up in your very small garden. It just had to be emptied so I took it myself."
"I wasn't going to wait for another one, I had to have it emptied," Nan told ITV News Meridian
She added: "They were hired to do a job that wasn't done so somebody had to do something about it."
Nan said the worst part was manoeuvring the bin up and down the curb but she would do it again if she had to.
During her walk, a lady pulled up in her car and gave her - and the bin - a lift.
Nan said: "I have every sympathy for the council who did what they could but they couldn't make them come here."
Bin strikes taking place in Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne bay are set to continue for the next month according to the GMB union.
Frank Macklin, GMB Union, said: "We've said from day one we apologise for any inconvenience this maybe causing to the communities in Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay. But ironically this is possibly one of the easiest disputes to settle.
"Quite literally from the south coast all the way up through Sussex, through Kent the market rate has changed. We want equity."
A spokesperson for Canterbury City Council said: "It is becoming increasingly clear that this action may now run for several more weeks, but we are clear that we will not be backing down."A very good pay offer - £14.45 an hour for drivers (up £1.87 an hour, a 14.9 per cent increase) and £11.61 for loaders (up 95 pence an hour, an 8.9 per cent increase) - was overwhelmingly accepted by members of the only recognised union at Canenco, Unison."The pay offer was backdated to the start of April and we were pleased to have concluded the process so that the increased salary appears in July pay packets, in time for the summer holidays – something the Unison members had said was important to them."We urge GMB members to end their strike."Meeting their demand of £15 per hour for drivers and £12 per hour for loaders would add another £300,000 to the Canenco wage bill each year and the only way money could be found is to cut services - those provided by Canenco itself, or other vital frontline council services such as dealing with rough sleeping or finding homes for those who find themselves without a bed for the night."Our Cabinet members are adamant that services will not be reduced to pay for wage increases above those that are on the table."
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