A RESIDENT who paid £67 to hire a van to remove his green waste after claiming the council 'missed' a collection is battling to be reimbursed.

Greg Bond, of Howley Lane, took out a green bin waste management subscription with the council on May 22.

The 34-year-old expected his first collection to be made on June 15 but it did not take place, with the borough's waste services team logging his green bin as 'not out' on arrival.

Mr Bond said: "I agree with that in part but only due to the fact that the green bin was placed out at the same time as the blue bin.

"Also, the blue bin, which was sat next to the green bin the whole time, was emptied and the green bin was not emptied.

"Of course neither one of us have any concrete evidence."

Mr Bond forked out £67.17 to hire a van so he could correctly dispose of the waste – and forwarded the invoice to the council.

"I would have hoped to have come to some agreement with the council regarding this," he said.

"Perhaps even an offer to meet me halfway with the van hire expenses.

"Now as the time has passed for mediation to meet halfway with the expenses, I had to recoup the losses of £67.17.

"As the waste management subscription for the green bin was only £30, there were not enough funds within that transaction to cover the costs.

"So, in order to not be put in any financial difficulty, I had to do the next available transaction, which was to remove the £67.17 from my June council tax bill.

"I had already expressed my wishes that the council should not send myself any reminders for the missing £67.17 but to claim it from the waste management team and leave the customer out of this.

"I haven't got the time to be writing in and complaining in some god forsaken chance the waste management team will reimburse myself the £67.17.

"I hope we can resolve this and I can start to put faith back in Warrington Borough Council.

"I have only just recently moved to the Warrington area and I am already beginning to feel like I have made a mistake."

Mr Bond is urging the council to allow him to take the £30 collection service fee paid through a 'chargeback' before reducing his next council tax payment by £37.17.

He also put forward two other 'available options'.

He added: "I can, until the money is reimbursed to myself, continue month after month reducing my council tax payments by £67.17.

"So then you send a letter each month for it to be repaid and then I reduce again the next month and so on and so on.

"We can stop all this nonsense now by just amicably agreeing to reimburse myself the £67.17."

On July 19 Mr Bond 'begrudgingly' paid the £67.17 shortfall in council tax but said 'no further payments will be processed' by him to the council until the matter is resolved.

The council confirmed it is looking into the matter.

A spokesman said: "We are aware of his complaint and will investigate."

The council started charging for garden waste collections in March.

The annual fee for the service is £33 per bin, or £30 if paid online.