PAUL Butler has criticised Swindon Council after binmen spilled rubbish across his road while on their rounds yesterday – and he claims he was told it would take 10 days for someone to clear it up.

But after calls from Mr Butler and the Adver, the waste was eventually cleared up yesterday morning. The council has denied saying it would take 10 days.

Mr Butler, a 41-year-old hotel manager, watched as a bin lorry moved along Ravenglass Road, in Westlea, at 8.15am when a glass jar, cardboard cup holder, grass cuttings and carrier bag of dirt were left in the middle of the carriageway.

The binmen, Mr Butler said, ignored their mistake and moved on with their round, prompting the spectator to make his call and ask for it to be cleaned away.

During his phone call to inform the council, Mr Butler said he was told the mess may not be dealt with for as long as 10 days, due to complaint procedures at the authority, although the council says spillages are cleaned up “as soon as possible”.

Mr Butler said: “They are only picking the bins up once a fortnight now as it is, they are full to the brim and when they do come, they leave the road like this.

“The bag looks like it is full of dog mess, there’s a glass jar too. Cars park in this road and children play.

“Then they told me it wouldn’t be cleared up for 10 days. We pay our council tax and for that, the binmen should be disciplined.

“Ten days to clear it up is ridiculous. If we were found to simply leave waste in the road, we would be fined for fly-tipping.

“There’s not a huge amount of waste, but it’s the principle.

“If someone drives over the glass they are going to get a puncture.”

A Swindon Council spokesman said there was no record of 10 days being quoted as the clean-up time for Mr Butler’s issue.

He said: “Our crews collect waste and recycling from thousands of homes every day, and unfortunately spillages do occasionally happen.

“If they are reported to us, as this particular one was, we will get there as soon as we can to clean it up. In this case we alerted a clean-up team just after the call was made and it was done that morning.”