Luton garden waste bin payment problems fixed says council after people struggled to register for collections

A problem with Luton Borough Council’s payment system for residents to access garden waste bin collections has been fixed.

Complaints surfaced on social media from residents who were unable to pay for the garden waste collection both online and over the telephone.

The seasonal charge for brown bin waste is £42 with no concessions available, according to the local authority’s website.

This year’s collections started at the end of January and continue until December 1, after which the annual charge has to be renewed.

A council spokesman said in a statement: “We’ve had a recent problem with our online payment process affecting the garden waste service.

“This has been resolved now and the system is working normally. Only those residents applying in the recent run-up to the start of the collection season were affected.

“All subscribed garden waste bins will be collected with or without a permit in the interim, until permits arrive. Our crews have an electronic list of all paid households, which will continue therefore to have their bins emptied.

“Garden waste can be disposed of at our recycling centres in the town, or alternatively it can be composted for other uses around the garden.”

A resident wrote to Labour council leader and Lewsey councillor Hazel Simmons about the issue, having experienced difficulties with the payment system.

Doreen Steinberg said: “Surely it should have been possible to put a recorded message on the telephone line stating the service was unavailable, instead of wasting people’s time for an hour.

“I asked a friend to do it online in the middle of January. Having put all the details in, the system told her to leave the page open. Then later it said she’d been timed out.

“I struggled to do it myself the following day, putting in all the details without a confirmed payment. I read later that the council was having problems accepting payments, especially for garden waste. I was going to send a cheque, but rang the council about ten days later.

“Having held on for an hour, I finally spoke to someone who said payment had been taken last month when my friend went online. I was assured the payment hadn’t been paid twice and was glad hadn’t sent a cheque.”

She added that she had yet to receive the registration sticker for her bin.