Bins have been collected - or sometimes not - by Serco for almost 30 years in the Canterbury district.

Yet the contractor's tenure with the city council, which will not be renewed when it expires in January 2021, has not been without its controversies.

From mixing rubbish to missing collections, here are seven times Serco has hit the headlines...

May 2012

A man whose wheelie bin was deemed too heavy for the dustcart was told to take it to the tip on the bus instead.

David Bridgman, 25, was stunned when a council contractor made the suggestion after he phoned to complain his rubbish had not been collected.

The dad-of-one, of Wrentham Avenue, in Greenhill, said: "The lady said the dustmen had been afraid it might break the lorry. I said ‘well I don’t drive - what do you want me to do, take it on the bus?’ to which she replied ‘well if needs must, you’ll have to take it on the bus’.

"I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be really angry – it’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard."

A Stagecoach spokesman said taking a bin on a bus would "constitute a health and safety risk to passengers".

June 2013

Canterbury City Council’s drive to urge homeowners to recycle more turned into a humiliating fiasco after binmen were filmed mixing rubbish carefully separated by residents.

A video emerged as the council rolled out its new £1 million system, which it boasted would be greener and more efficient as people were encouraged to sort their rubbish into six different bins.

Posted online, the film showed a binman dumping the sorted recycling waste into a single wheelie bin, which was then tipped into the back of a rubbish truck.

The footage was captured in Station Road, Whitstable, by resident Colin Council, who said: "When I saw them outside my door shove it into one bin I thought ‘what is the point of recycling?’."

Colin Carmichael, city council’s chief executive, admitted he was “shocked and horrified” by the footage.

He added: “We are having urgent discussions with Serco to investigate what their staff have done. And we will be looking at what we pay Serco in these circumstances.”

October 2014

A great-grandmother with arthritis dragged her wheelie bin a mile through the city centre after rubbish collectors failed to empty it on time.

Fed-up Nan Miller, 85, pulled the heavy container from her home in Holter’s Mill to the doorstep of the former Serco depot in Kingsmead Road in protest at the unreliable service.

She said she had repeatedly warned dustmen that if her garden waste was not picked up on the correct day one more time she would take matters into her own hands.

The retired translator, who has arthritis in her knees, said: “I have warned them so many times but enough is enough."

Mrs Miller was driven home by a member of Serco's helpdesk team and told efforts would be made to resolve her issues.

October 2016

Binman Kieron Edwards was sacked after he was filmed tipping carefully separated food waste into a general rubbish bin in Columbia Avenue, Whitstable.

The 26-year-old, who had worked for Serco for three years through an agency, claimed he did nothing wrong, insisting the food caddy contained dog poo.

Council chiefs said the incident was “bitterly disappointing” and bosses at Serco described it as “completely unacceptable”.

A petition calling for Mr Edwards to be given his job back was signed by hundreds of supporters, but fell on deaf ears.

April 2018

Stephen Rickwood threatened to dump rubbish on the doorstep of council leader Simon Cook after Serco repeatedly missed collections for his severely disabled ex-wife.

The contractor had sent flowers and an apology to Marilyn Rickwood for its repeated poor performance and promised to engage a manager to look at her issues urgently.

But as they persisted, Mr Rickwood emailed Cllr Cook to say: "The next time it happens I will pay for transportation of the bins to be emptied at the front of your home address and I don’t care what you do about it."

Cllr Cook responded: "I understand he’s very upset and I understand he’s very cross about this and concerned about Mrs Rickwood. However, threats which border on the abusive are unworthy of people."

May 2018

Three binmen found themselves in hot water after footage emerged of them appearing to mix recycling and leaving rubbish strewn across the pavement.

Angry resident Leopold Slayter, 61, captured the refuse collectors “throwing bins around” outside his home in Jesuit Close, Canterbury, and apparently combining the waste he and his neighbours had taken the time to sort.

One of the workers - a full-time Serco employee - resigned during a disciplinary process, while the other two agency workers were no longer used by the firm.

Mr Slayter said: “I spend time, and other residents in the area spend time, putting all their recycling in the right containers, and then these workers decide to be fools."

December 2018

Following a number of complaints about part-emptied bins, the city council responded by saying rubbish collectors did not have time to dislodge bags which became stuck.

Ian McMillan, of Ashford Road, Thanington, said he had been forced to take his rubbish to the tip after it was left at the bottom of his bin on three occasions in a matter of months.

A council spokesman explained: "The bin crews have rounds to complete and it is not practical for them to take a stick and prod away at someone’s rubbish to try and loosen it up."

But Mr McMillan retorted: “I suggest hotel cleaners, who must be under the same sort of time pressures as refuse teams, wouldn’t keep their job for long if they failed to empty the bins completely," he said.