A national newspaper story that claimed councils including Powys County Council had installed cameras on their bin lorries to fine residents has been branded as a load of rubbish by County Hall.
The Daily Mail ran a weekend story to say that up to six cameras had been installed on the lorries to use as evidence to catch out residents and issue them with fines.
But that’s not the case, according to an irate Powys, who said that the recording equipment is used to protect the health and safety of its staff, protect and ensure the safety of the public and to protect the council from false claims when the vehicles are out on a collection round.
And a County Hall insider, who called the story “nonsense” told us that the article had not gone down well as this side of the story was “conveniently left out of their article”.
He told us that “we’ve not issued any fines or warning letters to householders based on the footage that has been recorded from the bin lorries”.
Officially, Cllr Phyl Davies, Cabinet Member for Waste and Recycling, said in a statement to MyWelshpool: “I want to reassure householders in Powys that the recording equipment fitted on our refuse collection vehicles are not used to snoop on their bins.
“Our vehicles are fitted with hi-tech recording equipment to protect the health and safety of our staff and members of the public when the vehicles are out on a collection round. They are also there to protect the council from false insurance claims.
“The equipment is not used to compile evidence against residents and the contents of their bins.”
The Powys lorries (pictured) have one camera on the front, one on the rear and two on each side. Bin collections have become a hot debate locally after Powys reduced some collections to just once every three weeks.