A pensioner says he resorted to offloading his rubbish to friends after going more than three months without bins being collected.
Rene Pollak, who lives in Throwley, near Faversham, was left furious after not seeing a bin man turn up at his door since mid-March – and since then he has had to sort through growing piles of rubbish.
The 73-year-old says he has been forced to take weeks-old rubbish to the dump and ask friends to take it home in a bid to solve the problem – which has caused rats to move into his garage.
And now Mr Pollak is demanding his council tax back – and says he will refuse to pay another Swale Borough Council until it is done every week.
It comes as one of many cases of missed collections around Swale, Maidstone and Ashford after Suez and MidKent Waste Partnership signed the £152m deal – which came into effect on March 25.
“Two weeks before the end of Biff’s contract, I had no pickup,” said the retired agronomist.
“Then we had a song and dance crossing that was supposed to take place after Easter in March, but I’ve never seen a Suez truck since that date.
“Every week I casually hauled bigger and bigger piles of composting rubbish down to the gate, left it outside and brought it back in on Saturday or Sunday.
“It attracted rats, I took it to the tip in my car – it’s a very old car and I use it to do a service I’m already paying for.
“Then I used up my friendships because I would invite people over for pizza and Chinese takeout and the very last thing I would say to them would be ‘nobody can leave here without loading their car with my rubbish’.
“At first it got wry smiles, but I was really stretching my friendships to the Nth degree by stuffing their shoes with all the smelly stuff so they could take it and put it in their bins.”
“I don’t have a litter problem now, but that’s because I’ve had a huge job that has cost me emotionally and financially, all compared to the bill I rack up week after week for a service I’m not getting.”
Before rebates – applied because Mr Pollak lives alone following the death of his wife – the property is subject to council tax of £3,643.40 a year.
Although only a small proportion of this will be used to fund waste collection, he estimates he is currently paying £1 a day for a service he has not received in three-and-a-half months.
“I will stop paying my rates. I don’t see any way to make them notice…”
Mr Pollak, finally fed up with reporting missed collections over the phone or online, has now told the council he will no longer pay the tax.
“I sent them a letter saying I would stop paying my rates. I don’t see any other way to get them to notice,” he said.
“They’ll probably come back and fine me, but I’m not just worried about myself, all my neighbors have the same problem.
“Swale Borough Council says it has real concerns about dumping. Well, what are some people expected to do when their pile gets bigger and bigger?”
Mr Pollak is not the first person from Faversham to make the grand gesture, with Malachi and Sue Doyle threatening to stop payments to Swale Borough Council (SBC) for their Band D home in April before the council intervened.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people suffered as occasional pick-ups became a regular occurrence in the district.
SBC was approached for comment on Thursday and Monday but did not respond by the time of publication.