Green bin fee scammers target Liverpool residents as council issues warning

Liverpool residents have been warned of scam calls claiming to be council officials and taking £40 over the phone from unsuspecting households for a false green bin collection fee.

The council is currently embarking on one last week of free pick-ups of garden waste bins in the borough after an error on its website over the final date for collections without a levy.

This led to streets across the city being strewn with uncollected green bins and residents angry at the miscommunication.

All those seeking to have their garden waste collected from Monday needed to complete their registration with Liverpool Council by last Friday.

However, the authority has warned of people posing as the Local Authority over the phone and attempting to scam locals.

In a tweet, Liverpool Council said: “We’ve been made aware that scammers are ringing residents pretending to be from @lpoolcouncil about the new green bin levy. The charge is an opt-in service and we are not proactively contacting residents about it.

“Please hang up if you are contacted.”

In seven days’ time, the local authority will begin its first round of garden waste collections under its new charged system.

Thousands of homes will have their green bin picked up after paying £40 for the non-statutory service.

The scheme has come in for a lot of criticism, with more than 2,100 people signing a petition calling for it to be scrapped.

The fee was brought in as part of Liverpool Council’s 2022/23 budget proposals, which were passed last month. It is hoped that the charge could generate an additional £1.7 million for its coffers as it seeks to plug a gap of £24.5 million.

Cllr Abdul Qadir, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, told a committee in March that for the scheme to break even, a 33% take up is required, the equivalent of 49,000 homes across the city. As of the end of March, around 4,000 households had signed up.

In establishing the fee, Liverpool has become the fourth of the six Liverpool City Region local authorities to ask residents to stump up for collections. St Helens, Wirral and Halton already charge a fee while Knowsley and Sefton still provide the service for free.

Last month, Wirral Council confirmed it would increase its charge by 15% to £50 a year.