Doorstep conmen try to cash in on green bin charge

DOORSTEP conmen are trying to cash-in on Warrington Borough Council’s decision to charge £30 to collect green waste this year.
Police have received reports of people calling at houses saying they are from the council and are collecting the payment.
A police spokesperson said: “We have received information that that some residents in Warrington have been approached by a cold caller who is falsely claiming that they are visiting to collect the £30 subscription fee for the Green Bin Collection service that has recently been introduced by Warrington Borough Council.
“We would like to advise residents to exercise extreme caution when asked to hand any money over to people that you don’t know. Full information about the council’s waste services can be found at http://socsi.in/whDnd.
“Please pass this information to family, friends, neighbours and anyone else who may be vulnerable.”
A council spokesman stressed that the authority is not collecting money via door-to-door collections.
If anyone is approached they should report the incident to police on 101.
In the meantime, more than  4,000 people have already signed up for the green waste collection service in the first week – and the vast majority of those have signed up online.
The first collections for the service are in March but the payment system went live last week.
Residents can only pay the green waste charge online for £30 at   www.warrington.gov.uk/gardenwaste or for £33 at Contact Warrington, in Horsemarket Street in the town centre.
A number of people have objected to the new charge being imposed – and Appleton Parish Council has objected to the extra £3 charge demanded of people who choose not to pay online.