Daily Mail 22nd August 2008
For eight years Andre Wheeler has used his wheelbarrow to take glass, cans, paper and garden waste to the nearby tip.
The walk helps the 61-year-old teacher keep fit as well as do his bit for the environment.
But now officials have decided that wheeling the barrow on to the village site is dangerous - and he must take his rubbish by car instead.
Ban: Andre Wheeler has been told it is dangerous to use his barrow at the dump
Mr Wheeler, who is chairman of the local parish council in Barwell, Leicestershire, said: 'It's too ridiculous for words.They have slapped an Asbo on my wheelbarrow.
'Telling me to burn petrol to drive to the recycling bins is hardly going to save the planet - it's nonsense.
'I passionately believe in recycling and I use the barrow for environmental reasons.
'Walking there keeps me fit - it takes just under ten minutes there and ten minutes back - but now I've been banned from doing it for health and safety reasons.
'The staff at the site said I shouldn't bring the barrow because there's no footpath and I am mingling with cars and could get knocked down.
'I complained to the county council and they said that is the policy and that I was banned.
'But sometimes there's a queue of traffic half a mile long waiting to get into the tip.
'Many times drivers wind their windows down when I walk past and say, "You've got the right idea, mate!".
Mr Wheeler, a design and technology teacher, and his wife Louise, 58, who have two grown-up children, always try and do their bit for the environment. They are careful to recycle all waste at their five-bedroomed home in Barwell, where there is a compost heap at the bottom of the garden.
Mr Wheeler added: 'Councils should actually encourage people to walk to the tip, for environmental and health reasons.
'If they are worried for safety reasons they should build a path.
'It's just not joined-up thinking because what they are really saying is that if you haven't got a car then you can't recycle.'
Leicestershire County Council said: 'Mr Wheeler has been asked not to walk into Barwell recycling and household waste site with his wheelbarrow as staff at the site are concerned about his safety.
'The site is designed for people in vehicles, because users tend to bring bulky waste. Smaller amounts of waste can either be recycled using the local kerbside collection service, or be put into wheelie bins.'
Asked why Mr Wheeler has only now been barred from taking his barrow on to the site, after eight years of doing the same thing without incident, the spokesman said: 'Nationally, there have been a number of recent accidents at such sites involving vehicles and pedestrians. Leicestershire County Council takes the health and safety of both site users and staff extremely seriously.'
But regular tip user Briony White, from Barwell, said: 'I don't see how it is more dangerous to walk with a wheelbarrow than get out of your car and carry things to different skips.
'If you've got a heavy computer to unload, you park by the computer section, unload it, then walk the rest of your lighter stuff round to the relevant areas.
'As far as I know, no one's been killed yet.'
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