Binmen missed bins to watch match

Residents were left with notes on their bins

A council leader has apologised after a city's bins were left unemptied because binmen were watching Preston North End's Championship play-off match.

Councillor John Collins, who represents Moor Park ward, wrote to residents apologising for the fiasco of the bank holiday Monday collection.

The councillor and residents were furious when a promised collection failed the following Saturday.

They were finally emptied by 0900 BST Monday after action by Mr Collins.

Personal letter

"I might be unusual because I am a politician who likes to be frank and tell the truth, so I wrote a personal letter to people.

"It was almost like the last days of the Callaghan government," said the Labour councillor, who was a friend of the late Labour prime minister.

Mr Collins, whose own bins were among those not emptied, said he understood a note on council headed paper left on some bins stated that a large number of staff were unavailable to work because they were travelling to Cardiff for Preston's match against West Ham.

North End's hopes of a place in the Premiership were dashed as they lost 1-0.

"I was amused by the person who told our local paper that emptying the bins might have been more enjoyable than watching Preston that day," said Mr Collins.

The city has recently introduced a new collection with residents given separate containers for waste that can be recycled.

Their normal waste bin collections alternate each week with recycling bin collections.