Birmingham driver shamed on social media for blocking bin collections by council

Birmingham City Council has blamed a motorist’s “inconsiderate parking” for stopping bin collections in an inner-city area.

The council shared a photo on X, formerly Twitter, of the parking in question in Small Heath on Thursday, April 11 and claimed its bin crews were left unable to do their job in a particular street.

It went on to urge residents and drivers to be mindful of where they park their vehicle so emergency services and bin collections are not affected.

The council wrote on X: “Today one of our bin crews was unable to collect from the street in Small Heath because of inconsiderate car parking. Please think about where you leave your vehicle, so our crews and those from the emergency services can go about their business.”

Cllr Majid Mahmood, the council’s cabinet member for environment, added that “all of us need to be mindful to leave adequate space.” He continued: “Our crews do their best to get to all bins scheduled on any given day. With 575,000 bins to empty weekly I know it’s not an easy task but we all need to think about where we place our vehicle.”

Bin collections in Birmingham recently became a focal point when the crisis-hit city council unveiled its huge wave of cuts to local services. The council’s budget includes plans to move to a fortnightly waste collection, set to be introduced from next year onwards.

The proposed change in the budget reads: “Develop year two (2025/26) proposals that introduce fortnightly residual waste collection, coupled with food waste. Also change 5am start times for waste collection crews to 6am.”