Saturday, December 16, 2006

Okay to dump dead gran

A TEMPORARY council worker has been sacked after he sent out a waste permit authorising a Workington man to dump his grandmother’s dismembered body parts.

Single dad-of-two Dave Straughton, 42, was horrified to receive the permit from Cumbria County Council. He applied for the permit over the phone and was asked to state what he wanted to get rid of.

Mr Straughton said he became so incensed by incessant questions from the council worker about the exact nature of his waste, that he asked if they would accept his grandmother’s dismembered body parts in black bin bags.

“I told them it was general domestic waste and was told I needed to be more specific,” he said.

“The man on the phone said they couldn’t accept that and I wouldn’t get a permit unless I could be precise. They kept pushing me to be more specific. It’s crazy - it was just a bit of household rubbish.”

Already stating he had a guitar and organ to dispose of, Mr Straughton became so annoyed that he asked if they would accept dismembered body parts in bin bags.

He said: “Amazingly, the council officer asked if that was what I was taking, replied okay and put the phone down.”

The permit, which arrived several days later, said: “The following waste can be disposed: Guitar, Organ, Grandma’s dismembered body parts in bin bags.”

Mr Straughton added: “This [permit scheme] just encourages people to fly-tip even more. They are just asking for too much information all the time. All I want to do is take rubbish to the tip. When I got the permit I thought at least the lad had a sense of humour for putting it on. It’s his bosses that don’t have a sense of humour. I feel for him if he’s lost his job.”

Cumbria County Council has confirmed that the person who dealt with the permit has had their temporary contract terminated. Mr Straughton’s grandmothers are both dead.

A statement from Cumbria County Council said Mr Straughton first applied for a van permit to take rubbish to the Clay Flatts household waste recycling centre on November 9.

It continued: “Mr Straughton made it clear that he was not a supporter of the scheme and, when asked for a description of the waste he intended to bring to site, he replied: some old musical instruments and dismembered body parts of his grandma in bin bags.

“Our call centre operative challenged this description, but Mr Straughton insisted this was the wording he wanted to appear on his permit. Regrettably, the permit was issued with this wording included. The following day this was discovered by management, investigated and the operative’s temporary contract was terminated. We then wrote to Mr Straughton to apologise and issued him with a revised permit.”

The county council has issued more than 5,000 permits since the scheme began.

Waste being dumped at centres across the county has gone down by over 20 per cent, which the authority says is saving council taxpayers several hundred thousand pounds each year.

The council also says that the scheme has led to many of its waste recycling sites from being congested with vans, many of which were fetching trade waste.

A spokesman added: “Recycling has significantly increased, our site staff have more time to help members of the public and feedback from those using the sites is overwhelmingly positive.”

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