A BOURNEMOUTH man was left bitterly disappointed with BCP Council’s reason for not collecting his garden waste on Tuesday, saying it was "the lamest excuse since British Rail's leaves on the tracks”.

Stephen Feltham, 72, of Ferris Place, was told his garden waste could not be collected because the contents of the bin were frozen, however he claimed when he checked the bin at 9am, he could shake all the leaves out.

He has now decided to place a heater by his bin for when the collection crew return to ensure his garden waste won't be left.

He said: “What I am going to do is I have got a nice fire heater and when they come to collect it the heater will be there.

“I think (the collectors) do their best within the tight time constraints, so if anything requires an extra ten seconds, they will leave it.

“To them it is just a missed bin. For me, it is two weeks before I get in the garden again.

“You can’t stay silent, if you stay silent you encourage complacency. I pay good money and I expect a good service.

“You don’t take your car in for a service and find out they didn’t have time to fit the air filter. You expect the full service. They didn’t shake (the bin) long enough.”

Mr Feltham, who is recently widowed, complained to the council and said he was impressed with how quickly he received a response, but couldn’t accept the excuse.

The next garden waste collection is on December 3 which means he has to postpone the work he is doing in his garden.

A spokesperson for the council said: “We are investigating with the collection crew as to what happened with this resident's garden waste bin. It is not uncommon for the contents of a refuse bin to be frozen.”