Blundering council chiefs were forced to remove a rubbish bin after it was mistakenly installed seven feet in the air.
Useless ... Jenny Stone and son Cody with binResidents in Stoke-on-Trent thought they had been the victims of a prank when they spotted the bin on a lamp-post on Wednesday.
Way above the heads of most locals, the item was even taller than 6ft 7ins Stoke City footballer Peter Crouch.
Camera shop worker Gary Challinor, 45, said: “At first when we saw how high up the bin was we thought it was a joke.
“I had to check to make sure it wasn’t April Fools’ Day. We thought the bin would be moved further down the post eventually, but it just stayed there.
“One of my colleagues even asked the guy installing it: ’Are we going to need a basketball player to chuck our rubbish away for us?’”
Kim Jones, 35, said: “It was a really strange sight. I’m 5ft 2in tall and I could barely reach the bin," and mum Jenny Stone added: "Kids don’t have a chance.”
Not tall enough ... Kim Jones with binIt is thought the blunder occurred due to workmen leaving the lower part of the lamp-post clear so engineers could access wiring inside.
Gary lodged a complaint with the council's environmental health department after seeing people struggle to dispose of their rubbish.
And officials at Stoke-on-Trent City Council had the useless item removed just 24 hours after it was installed.
Peter Price, the council’s assistant director for technical services, admitted the location of the bin was “daft”.
He said: “Clearly a daft mistake has been made. It’s been put right and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again."
Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:59 pm
